More LGUs support Marcos’ housing program

THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) said on Wednesday that 10 more local government units (LGUs) have committed to support President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s “Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino Program,” an initiative to build 1 million affordable houses every year.

“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,” DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said.

Acuzar said of the 28 LGUs that signed a memorandum of understanding with the DHSUD, 11 have already started the construction process, including Quezon City and Marikina City.

Among the latest LGU-enrollees include Bohol province, the cities of Mandaue and Tagbilaran, Panglao, Bohol, and six towns from the provinces of Oriental and Occidental Mindoro.

“We aim to make this dream a reality in the next six years of this administration,” Acuzar added.

He said LGUs also play an active role in identifying idle government lands that can be converted into housing projects.

“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,” Acuzar said.

Marcos envisioned to build 1 million houses annually in the next six years to address the country’s housing backlog, which is estimated at 6.5 million units.

Under the program, government financial INSTITUTIONS AND PRIVATE banks will provide funding to the projects.