BCI Asia names top companies building fair housing for the poor

MANILA, Philippines — The cost of building in the National Capital Region has been steadily increasing in the past 10 years, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Construction Materials Retail Price Index (CMRPI).

With the country’s housing backlog now at 5.7 million, the increase in the prices of construction materials means the housing industry is less likely to fill the backlog which will continue to widen.

One particular sector in the housing industry that is increasingly affected by the increase in the prices of construction is the base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) market — the sector of the industry tasked with providing affordable housing for the country’s poorest citizens. As prices continue to increase, non-government organizations (NGOs), local governments units (LGUs), and private companies developing socialized housing will have a more difficult time keeping costs down and keeping housing units affordable for end users.

Given these challenging developments, it’s good that there are institutions helping the BOP market overcome these challenges. One such institution is the FairBuilding Network (FBN), an online platform established by the BCI Media Group in 2013 that brings together buyers and sellers in the BOP market. By gathering housing developers for the BOP market and bridging them to architects, engineers, contractors, and construction materials suppliers, it helps spur the growth of developments in the market and increase demand for more affordable housing. BCI Foundation, the company’s social action arm, operates FBN.

In the past five years, the FBN has created an online database of 21 not-for-profit partners and 132 industry partners committed to building housing for the BOP market at fairly negotiated prices. The network also organized engagement forums where industry partners and not-for-profit partners learn about present BOP market housing projects they could work together on, and where FBN solicits industry partners to grant at least 20-percent discount and/or donation to the project.

To also encourage more industry partners to engage in projects for the BOP housing market, FBN introduced in 2017 the inaugural FairBuilding Awards, where 10 industry partners were officially awarded the FairBuilding Gold Partner Status for their commitment to help not-for-profit partners save in construction and building costs for BOP housing projects.

“When we first came out with the FairBuilding idea, we had a certain concept of how it would look — a self-populating online platform where developers for social projects and the Philippine building industry can congregate and work on projects. Looking back now, while there is still a lot of need for handholding, wherein NGOs come together with the industry to talk face-to-face about making developments and projects, everything worked exactly as we hoped, to be quite honest,” said Dr. Matthias Krupps, founder and CEO of BCI Media Group and the director and founder of BCI Foundation and FBN.

This year, a new and larger set of industry partners were duly recognized as social responsibility leaders in the industry and awarded the FairBuilding Gold Partner status at a much-attended gala event last April 19 at the Makati Diamond Residences.

The Gold Partners were among the more than 150 companies that participated in 14 engagement forums and 61 transactions, which FBN facilitated with 21 not-for-profit partners in 2017. The discounts or donations they provided have resulted in P9.3 million in savings in construction and building materials in BOP market housing projects.

The 18 Gold Partner awardees are Ambassador International, Arctic Forest, ASTM Corporation, Boysen Paints Philippines, Colorsteel, Excel Coil, Omni, FC-Tile Depot, Homeaid Depot, Hornitex Floorings, Lexiar Handyman Builders, Marco Polo, Matimco, Panasonic, Philips, Philippine Steel Framing Corp., Unimore Trading and World Home Depot.

Also recognized in the gala event are the 21 NGOs, who committed to work with industry partners in coming up with fairly negotiated costs in building housing for the BOP market.

These NGOs are Alcaldia, Bahay Tuluyan, Base Bahay, Build Change, Child and Family Service Philippines Inc., Engineering Good, Foundation for These-Abled Persons Inc., France-Philippines United Action, Gawad Kalinga, Habitat for Humanity, Hilti Foundation, Hospicio de San Jose, Little Heroes’ Dreams, No One in Need, Operation Blessing, Primary Structures Educational Foundation, Inc.-Knowledge, Industrial Labor, Leadership and Service (SKILLS), Sagip Sierra Madre, Save The Children, SOS Children’s Village, United Architects of the Philippines-Manila Alcaldia Chapter, and Virlanie Foundation.

The bigger and more fruitful FairBuilding Awards this year is proof that the concept which FBN started five years ago is working for the benefit both industry partners and not-for-profit partners in the BOP housing market. It shows that more and more companies are committed to help not-for-profit partners build better homes for the less fortunate and gain a better standing in the industry in return. Such partnerships, if sustained, can go a long way in addressing the backlog in the housing sector, giving more Filipinos a better place to call home in the years to come.