SHDA Vows Faster Permits After Blasting Housing Red Tape at BGC Summit
Getting a house built in the Philippines has long meant months of waiting on government paperwork. Now, the country’s top developers say that wait is about to get a lot shorter.
The Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) closed its 34th National Developers Convention this week with a blunt message for regulators: cut the red tape, or risk stalling housing supply.
More than 400 policymakers, regulators, bankers and industry leaders packed Marquis Events Place in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, for the two-day summit, held September 16 to 17.
By the time the gavel came down, SHDA had locked in a seven-point resolution roadmap to speed up housing delivery nationwide. Faster permitting sat at the top of that list.
Permit Delays Take Centre Stage
SHDA Corporate Secretary Atty. Mena R. Ojeda Jr. formally presented the resolutions. They commit the group to deepening its engagement with the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
The plan also pushes for stronger participation in Technical Working Groups drafting a Joint Memorandum Circular covering 15 agencies involved in housing permitting and licensing.
Dr. Winston Conrad Padojinog, senior economist at CRC Foundation Inc., briefed the convention on the numbers. Developers can now expect License to Sell approvals within a mandatory 15-day service-level agreement.
That timeline is backed by a zero-backlog push across regional offices and fully digital permit tracking, he said. Other officials laid out the wider regulatory landscape developers are navigating.
Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Atty. Larry Barcelo walked attendees through tax issuances and compliance rules facing the industry.
Anti-Red Tape Authority Deputy Director General Dr. Lea Grace Salcedo detailed a new push to streamline housing processes through an electronic one-stop shop.
The resolutions further call for digitising government-to-government transactions and computerising land titling. They also push for a review of the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act (RPVARA).
Homebuyers Are Changing, Too
Permitting reform wasn’t the only headline out of BGC. Philippine Survey Research Centre Research Director Andrea Dizon presented data on where Filipinos actually want to live.
She found 61% of Filipinos planning to buy a home within three years now prefer living just outside the city rather than in it. Proximity to family and opportunity still shape those choices.
Of those surveyed, 78% cited job or business opportunity as a top factor, while 57% wanted to live within 30 minutes of relatives.
Developers were urged to factor that shift into where, and how, they build next, as buyer priorities continue to evolve across generations.
The convention also spotlighted innovation, including a solar-powered socialised housing project from Joy~Nostalg Group and Raemulan Lands Inc. founder Jacinto C. Ng Jr.
The project is described as the world’s first grid-connected, utility-scale solar rooftop installation built into a socialised housing community, and was held up as a model going forward.
SHDA Chairman Engr. Francis Richmond Villegas said the real test starts now that the convention has ended. “A convention is only as good as what happens after it ends,” he said.
He added that the resolutions give members and government partners “something concrete to hold each other to,” framing the roadmap as a working document, not a formality.
National President Kerwin Padua echoed that urgency, warning that dialogue alone won’t fix the country’s housing gap. SHDA said it will keep working with DHSUD to turn this week’s commitments into real policy.
