Local government units (LGU) will now be working closely with the national government to provide houses to poor Filipinos, according to Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chairman Jejomar C. Binay.
“My policy, so long as I am in the shelter industry, is to bring the local government as active participants in this particular sector,” Binay said in an open forum during the Vice President’s Night of the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC).
The HUDCC czar noted that much of the housing projects are concentrated in a few regions. He said he intends to distribute them throughout the country with the help and active involvement of the LGUs.
Binay said that although he has yet to present a proposal to the Congress, he had already requested LGUs to create a Department of Shelter or a Committee on Shelter, which will handle problems involving housing projects such as land boundary disputes.
Binay also said he has been urging LGUs, especially 5th and 6th class municipalities, to donate two hectares of land for socialized housing. A two-hectare land would accommodate around 200 housing units, according to the HUDCC chair.
“Housing involves costs for the land and the construction of houses. By having donated lands from LGUs, the cost of housing projects would be reduced thus making shelters more affordable to the poor,” Binay said.
Meanwhile, the Vice President said he intended to adopt the “Gawad Kalinga style” of involving beneficiaries as volunteer manpower for the construction of their own homes.
He also said he sought to engage the help of civic organizations such as the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, the Rotary Club, among others, for the government’s housing projects.
“If we put together all these efforts, we will be able to reduce the cost of one housing unit from P100,000 to P70,000-P80,000. With such an affordable rate, more poor Filipinos will have the chance to have their own homes,” Binay said.