SENATOR JV Ejercito renewed his call to the National Housing Authority to hasten the building of shelters to ensure the safety of the typhoon victims as priority beneficiaries of the project.
During Thursday’s visit in Tacloban City, he conducted an inspection at the government housing projects intended for the victims of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” which hit and devastated the province in 2013.
Ejercito, who chairs the Senate Committee on Urban Planning Housing and Resettlement, is personally assessing the structural stability of the permanent shelters that were already built after receiving numerous complaints regarding the use of sub-standard materials in building the houses.
Previous reports in the media also revealed that mediocre structures were found in the designated resettlement areas.
The senator is also conducting consultations with stakeholders, especially those staying in various areas that continuously pose threat to the lives of the people.
The areas of concern to be visited are Guadalupe Heights 2 in Barangay San Isidro where numerous sub-standard houses could allegedly be found; New Hope Village in Barangay Sta. Elena which is known as a flood-prone area; and Knightsridge in Barangay Camansihay which is reported to be a landslide-prone area.
Out of the 205,128 target units, 67,754 units have been fully completed (33 percent) and 23,414 units were occupied (11 percent) as of August of last year.
Among the issues targeted to be resolved are the slow implementation of the housing project due to lack of sites for the housing, slow conversion of safe sites from agricultural to residential; difficulty in the titling of land; and securing the necessary permits and licenses and other bureaucratic processes.
Also part of the pressing issues needed to be resolved include the low occupancy rate because of lack of basic utilities and services; no access roads and transportation and no employment and livelihood opportunities.
To ensure the resolution of such problems, several recommendations were made.
The recommendations wre the following: Establishment of a better responsive coordinating mechanisms in times of disaster and emergency situations; encourage citizens participation in determining the needs for the recovery and rehabilitation of communities; streamline the process for the issuance of permits and other documents; speed up the housing production; development of schemes in the provision of the housing units to be presented to the victims and immediate release of funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction.