MORE AFFORDABLE SOCIAL HOUSING

MORE AFFORDABLE SOCIAL HOUSING My former boss and mentor, former Vice President and former housing czar Jejomar "Jojo" C. Binay (JCB) once told me in a meeting that housing is a financing problem, and not a technical problem. I recall that he gave an example, that in theory, anyone could buy a Mercedes-Benz, for as long as the car buyer can be given a long term payment plan. I also recall that he also gave the examples of long term house installment plans in Hong Kong and Singapore, wherein the children and grandchildren of the original home buyers could even take over or assume the balance of the housing loans of their parents and grandparents. In that sense, those could be called "trans-generational financing" (TGF) terms. I also recall that my other boss and mentor, the late Jose "Jolly" Conrado Benitez (also JCB) who was the housing czar at that time as the Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, told me that the housing units offered by the Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) at that time were also sold on a "lease to own" basis. However good those plans were, they were obviously not sold under TGF terms. I was so honored by the fact that Jolly invited me to dinner, jus the two of us, shortly before he passed away. In that dinner, he told me that he was reading my columns, and that he wanted me to build an inter-island railway system, and to plant all "bald" mountains with trees. I always knew that he was known to always think big, but I had now way of knowing why I could act on those big ideas. Thanks to whoever invented the Condominium Certificate of Title (CCT), it is now possible to own a condo unit, of course without owning the land upon which the condo was built on. The CCT is simply an instrument that allows the property owner to sell his or her property, just like a Certificate of Registration (CR) that is needed in order to sell a vehicle. In reference to our particular topic, the CCT is the instrument that could be used to offer TGF terms. And just in case there are no more descendants that could take over the long term lease, the TCT can be sold to whoever qualifies. Since the real estate industry is already existing, and there is already an existing market for condos, perhaps what is only lacking now is a law that will the housing developers to offer their products under TGF terms? As a matter of fact, why not sell "bare" condos just like selling "stock" cars? That way, the buyer could just accessorize the condo how he or she wants it, and when he or she wants it, meaning when he or she could already afford to improve it, because he or she has all the time to do it. Who could possibly sponsor this law? IKE SENERES/08-03-2024