THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) will build 1,002 housing units in Cebu City.
DHSUD said 100 units would be built in Barangay Lorega and 902 units in Barangay Tungkil in Minglanilla.
The Building Adequate, Livable, Affordable and Inclusive Filipino Communities (Balai) housing projects will be built through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between DHSUD and local officials.
“The MOAs will pave the way for both projects to utilize the incentivized compliance of developers for the LGUs’ (local government unit) balanced housing programs,” DHSUD said in a news statement.
The 902 housing units in Barangay Tungkil in Minglanilla will be built on a total land area of 73,955 square meters.
For homeless, urban poor – Tolentino
In a related development, Senator Francis “Tol” N. Tolentino, in a news statement, has asked the National Housing Authority (NHA) to devise guidelines that would enable the government to reallocate completed but unoccupied government housing units to qualified beneficiaries, especially the homeless and urban poor.
Tolentino stressed that since government housing units are considered a public good, unoccupied housing structures should be reallocated to qualified beneficiaries if the original tenants failed to occupy the unit within three years.
“We consider these (government housing units) as a public good, and as a public good, they should benefit the general public,” said Tolentino.
During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement chaired by Tolentino, NHA General Manager Marcelino P. Escalada Jr. revealed that a number of those who availed of “low-cost” housing units from the government did so as an investment, with some owners even renting out their properties for significantly more than the monthly amortization they are paying to the government.
Tolentino told the NHA to properly compensate the original awardees of housing units who have started paying amortizations once the agency reallocates their unoccupied units to other beneficiaries.
The senator stressed that allowing government housing units to remain unused deviates from their original purpose of benefitting the homeless, especially informal settlers and victims of natural and man-made disasters.
NHA General Manager Escalada welcomed Tolentino’s proposal, and said that they are drafting policy guidelines for the re-awarding of low-cost housing units that remain unoccupied within a specific time frame.
Cebu housing beneficiaries
The 100 housing units in Barangay Lorega will be built on a 1,350 square meter property. It is intended for families living in hazard areas such as creeks and riverbanks across the city.
Other beneficiaries include designated recipients pursuant to the guidelines under Republic Act No. 7279.
“Each unit will be equipped with a kitchen, toilet, living room and dining room. The project will likewise feature parking lots with ramps and a multi-purpose hall,” DHSUD said.
Over the past months, DHSUD chief and housing czar Secretary Eduardo Del Rosario has been actively engaging LGUs and housing stakeholders in line with efforts to boost linkages and coordination – part of the department’s key strategies for this year.
Upholding the basic housing principle that shelter is a right, homeownership is an option and the department’s responsibility to capacitate Filipino families, particularly those from low-income groups, to have decent and affordable houses of their own, is also among DHSUD’s key platforms for 2021.
In May, the housing czar also finalized similar pacts with two Nueva Ecija LGUs – Talavera and San Leonardo towns – as part of DHSUD’s mandate in helping low-income Filipino families have access to decent and affordable housing. It was the 11th and 12th MOA, respectively, for housing projects that the department had signed with LGUs.