Homesfor all

IT IS the dream of every Filipino family to own a house. With the right programs, rest assured that this dream will be fulfilled. There are also current programs that are being implemented right now.

President Rodrigo Duterte dreams that all Filipino families will own a house.

Romeo Jandugan, commissioner of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP), was informed to follow the Nicaraguan experience where it provided hectares of land for the resettlement of its informal settlers.

These people thrive and build homes wherever they can squat. They are then forced to leave the areas they squat resulting to unrest.

The government built houses for them but these are poorly equipped with social services like electricity and clean water supply. Some built houses were left to rot and go to waste. Some settlements meant for the military were never occupied. Informal settlers squat in these areas too but were eventually driven away. Poor foresight and lack of long range plans to make feasible settlements had caused these unfortunate situations.

The hope is for the government to look for the urban poor. The President said he will urge urban poor organizations to come up with a good platform for land tenure and shelter. He encouraged homeowners association to avail themselves of the Community mortgage program of government as an instrument to acquiring land and shelter. A summit conference emphasized this theme: “Democratizing the Socialized Housing programs towards a genuine autonomy in governance to attain sustainable and resilient communities.” It aims to bring closer to the landless grassroots communities the housing programs and projects of the government.

Associations which persons can approach for assistance on their housing needs are Partnerships for Philippines Support Services Agencies, Social Housing and Finance Corporation (SHFC), Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDC), Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and 20 housing associations in the Caraga region.

SHFC has targeted to provide land and housing to 55,000 recipients in Caraga and Northern Mindanao in four years. The HUDC agency is targeting to build houses for 1.5 million families nationwide from 2017 to 2022 under the “Biyaya ng Pagbabago” program.