Sen. Francis Escudero is pushing for tax breaks and other incentives for private developers so they could build more affordable rental housing for poor and low-income families.
The Senate recently approved Senate Bill 2507, or the proposed “Affordable and Decent Rental Housing Incentives Act,” on second reading. Escudero said the measure would encourage greater private sector participation in easing the country’s housing shortage.
“The Constitution itself recognizes that the challenge of housing cannot be met by government alone,” Escudero said in his sponsorship speech, citing Article XIII, Section 9 on urban land reform and housing.
"The ‘Affordable and Decent Rental Housing Incentives Act’ gives life to this constitutional mandate by providing incentives for the private sector to develop, construct, rehabilitate, and operate affordable and decent rental housing for poor and low-income households," he said.
The bill would establish a registration and certification system for qualified rental housing providers. Units would have to meet standards set by the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), including rental rates based on household income, prevailing rental prices in the area, and the size and type of the unit.
Only qualified units leased to poor and low-income households would be eligible for incentives.
Developers and operators could get value-added tax exemption on leases, tax incentives under Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, and a 25 percent tax credit on gross rental income for five years.
They could also access preferential lending terms from the Pag-IBIG Fund, Land Bank of the Philippines and Development Bank of the Philippines, as well as credit guarantees, interest subsidies and viability gap funding.
The bill would allow government land and other assets to be used for affordable rental housing through usufruct, lease, concession and public-private partnership arrangements.
“These incentives give government the tools to orchestrate and harmonize public and private resources toward a common goal: decent and affordable housing for every Filipino family,” Escudero said.
He said the measure is intended to expand the supply of rental housing rather than just regulate the sector.
“In doing so, we fulfill the vision of our Constitution—government and the private sector working together to put decent and affordable housing within reach of our people,” he said.
Funding for the implementation of the measure would be included in the annual General Appropriations Act and the spending plans of concerned government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs).
