At least 10 more local government units have signed up for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino program eyeing to build one million houses every year, according to the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD).
Housing Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said the overwhelming support of the LGUs indicates that the housing program is on the right track.
“With the President’s Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino program, I know we are off to a good start. I can see this program as the embodiment of the dream of every Filipino family wanting to have a house of their own,” he said.
“We aim to make this dream a reality in the next six years of this administration,” he added.
There are 28 LGUs that have already signed the memoranda of understanding with DHSUD to formalize their intent to pursue housing projects in their areas.
Out of the 28 LGUs, 11 have already broken ground, including the cities of Quezon and Marikina in the National Capital Region.
The latest LGU-enrollees are Bohol, the cities of Mandaue and Tagbilaran; Panglao, Bohol, and six towns from the provinces of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro.
The housing czar believes that local governments play a very important role in the program from the planning stages up to the actual turn over and maintenance.
The LGUs also play an active role in identifying idle government lands that can be tapped for the government’s housing program.
“Under this program, we are introducing an innovative framework which will ease the burden brought by two major bottlenecks in housing production and finance – affordability and access to funds. We are now exploring out-of-the-box concepts and financial structures which could potentially be the breakthrough strategies to arrest the homelessness woes in the country,” he said.
“The LGUs play a vital role from the conceptualization of the project up to identification of beneficiaries and more importantly the sustainability of the program,” he noted.
Under the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program, DHSUD is tasked to build one million houses annually in the next six years to address the country’s housing backlog pegged at more than 6.5 million units.