MANILA, (PNA) — As the nation gears up for more rainfall over the coming months, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) confirmed the release of P1 billion in funds to the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) to support land tenureship loans for in-need and informal settler families (ISFs) under the government’s Community Mortgage Financing (CMF) initiative.
The fund release in July representing the CMF’s FY 2013 allocation under the General Appropriations Act will cover loans for 175 projects under the SHFC’s Community Mortgage Program.
These projects are expected to benefit 19,953 poor households and ISFs nationwide.
“Now that we’re in the middle of the rainy season, it’s even more important to inject funds into programs that will enhance our pre-disaster management initiatives. Besides relocating poor families–particularly those in flood-prone or high-risk areas–this fund release will also allow SHFC to give poor families the opportunity to secure their own property,” DBM Secretary Florencio Abad said.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC), the SHFC facilitates social housing programs and provides assistance to organized informal settlers to secure land tenureship through the CMP.
Under the CMP, qualified families are provided with loans to finance the acquisition of lands which they are currently occupying or where they have been resettled.
In 2012, SHFC financed 100 projects where 9,287 ISFs were provided housing assistance with a total loan take out of P549 million.(