Manila: The Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) is relaunching its Community Mortgage Program (CMP) with significant enhancements to better serve low-income families and informal settler communities.
According to Philippines News Agency, SHFC President and Chief Executive Officer Federico Laxa, during a Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon interview, stated that the enhanced CMP will not only finance land acquisition for organized communities but will now also provide additional loans for community development and site upgrading. He emphasized that the program will be transformative, offering more than just land acquisition by providing additional loans to help communities develop their land and improve their surroundings.
The CMP is a vital component of the expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program (4PH), aimed at assisting organized homeowners' associations or cooperatives whose members live on land they do not own. Through SHFC financing, these communities can purchase the land and gradually pay affordable amortizations of PHP500 to PHP600 monthly, making housing accessible even to families with monthly earnings as low as PHP3,000.
Laxa clarified that the CMP is intended for communities that have organized themselves into homeowners' associations, offering loans to the collective group rather than individuals. These groups must register with agencies such as the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) or the Cooperative Development Authority if they are a cooperative.
To date, the DHSUD has approved 34 onsite CMP projects, expected to benefit more than 5,000 families, with SHFC aiming to start awarding these projects by October 2025. In addition to CMP, SHFC is implementing vertical housing developments in locations including San Fernando, Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental, Davao City, and Palawan. Some beneficiaries have already moved into their units, while others await formal awarding.
Laxa also highlighted SHFC's role in resettlement projects in partnership with the Department of Transportation, specifically targeting families displaced by the South Railway Project. SHFC reports that over 10,000 families have been housed under their programs, with numbers expected to rise significantly with the rollout of the enhanced CMP and expanded 4PH initiatives.
