Philmetal, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center Team Up to Address Housing Woes

As part of its commitment to address the 5.9 million unserved housing needs in the Philippines, Philmetal Products, Inc. entered into an agreement with Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter to increase the availability of quality housing materials to low-income households.

The partnership, which will be rolled out in Cebu, will focus on creating strategies to educate and increase access to strong, resilient, and decent homes.

“Our focus is to facilitate adequate solutions that address the current housing gap. We saw the need to involve the business sector in reaching out to households that build homes by themselves. By supporting market actors to be more inclusive, we encourage businesses to reach larger markets by providing products and services that are affordable and accessible to low-income households,” stated Jessan Catre, country lead of the Terwilliger Center’s Philippine Shelter Venture Lab.

Philmetal will introduce quality roofing and house framing products to be piloted and distributed in various towns and cities across Cebu.

“It has always been our company’s mission to raise the standards of metal roofing materials and other building products for Filipinos. This partnership helps push our advocacy as we try to reach those households who need access to quality materials the most,” said Philmetal Visayas’ General Manager, Engr. Paul Bugarin.

The partnership will also train artisans and construction laborers on product features and equip them with improved skills in roofing installation. The objective is to upskill these workers and educate their local communities on how to properly use and install roofing materials as they build their homes incrementally.

Philmetal Products, Inc. is an affiliate of the Philsteel Group of companies, which pioneered the introduction of roofing innovations using patented cutting-edge technologies. The company is a recognized leader in the metal roofing and steel frame industry, manufacturing products that are world-class and proudly Philippine-made. Its roofing products provide superior rust protection and are more resilient against typhoons and extreme heat.

The collaboration comes from the need to engage the private and civil society sectors in addressing unserved households in the country. A report by the Terwilliger Center and the Center for Communications and Research shows that the Philippines’ housing needs stand at 5.9 million units, also including households who struggle to incrementally build a decent home. This segment alone represents a market value of Php 626.5 billion (US$13 billion). In Cebu, the total number of households that build homes by themselves is estimated at 134,000. Housing is also a larger-than-expected contributor to the Philippines’ GDP with a contribution of 14.9%, on par with sectors such as manufacturing, which often draw more attention in economic recovery plans. In the country, the undercount of the entire housing sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP is already at Php 1.39 trillion (US$ 29 billion).

To help address the housing gap and the construction needs of low-income families, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center works with local business firms to help increase the access, availability, and affordability of housing products and services to underprivileged and vulnerable families. The Center offers technical support, research, and cost-sharing to encourage local players in creating and redesigning human-centered services, products, and financing options. Interested organizations and businesses from the construction industry, media platforms, innovative engineering or architecture influencers and the labor training ecosystem may send their partnership inquiries to tcis-ph@habitat.org.