The government is planning to establish a one-stop shop for socialized housing projects, according to Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) president and CEO Federico Laxa.

Laxa said the initiative was proposed by newly appointed Human Settlements Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling. SHFC is an attached agency of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).

The one-stop shop will streamline the processing of permits and other requirements of the DHSUD, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Department of the Interior and Local Government, Laxa said.

“When I was in the private sector, it took me six months to get all the requirements for one project. Some developers would take about a year,” said Laxa in an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE’s Straight Talk on Wednesday.

With the establishment of the one-stop shop, Laxa said the government can fast-track the construction of housing projects amid the shortage of housing units and aggressively push the SHFC’s Community Mortgage Program (CMP).

As a government agency, SHFC provides financial assistance to families in informal settlements to help them legally acquire land and homes.

Under the CMP, SHFC offers affordable financing by accepting collective payments from all members of a community of informal settlers in a given area.

SHFC purchases land from their legal owners and offers beneficiaries long-term amortization plans of 25 to 30 years. This approach allows informal settlers to remain in highly urbanized areas where they have jobs or where they can find work.

Laxa said the DHSUD is coordinating with the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development to determine the extent of the housing backlog across the country.

“The DHSUD is reviewing the figures because the government will have to deal with [or prioritize] the poorest of the poor,” Laxa said.

He said the government’s housing program is building several vertical housing projects in San Fernando City in Pampanga, Davao City, and Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental.

The Pampanga development is expected to benefit 10,000 families, while the Davao City project will have over 7,000 units.

Laxa said the government has also revived socialized housing projects along rivers and estuaries in Caloocan City, Valenzuela City, and San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.