Three more local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila have signified support to the government's housing project as part of the measure to address the more than 6.5 million housing backlogs in the country.
Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said he signed three memoranda of understanding with Caloocan City, Valenzuela and Malabon.
One of the housing projects, according to Acuzar, is touted as a model of a successful program for informal settler families (ISFs).
He is referring to the Disiplina Village in Valenzuela City, the largest in-city resettlement site in the country, according to the National Housing Authority.
"This subsidized settlement site, which is home to thousands of ISFs, are complete with concrete roads, markings and alleys, drainages and sewer system, as well as individual power and service connection – undoubtedly making them ideal communities," said Acuzar.
The Disiplina Village, he said, will serve as a model township program of the department.
The DHSUD has been pushing for on-site, in-city housing projects, apparently as a result of the lessons learned in the past wherein ill-conceived housing projects resulted in the waste of government funds as the ISFs would always return to Metro Manila and other urban areas as these are their work places.
Acuzar also signed an agreement with Marikina City, and the cities of Bacolod, Iloilo and Roxas in the Visayas region.
Acuzar urged more LGUs and stakeholders to engage in the program which aims to address the country’s 6.5-million housing need by building and dispensing one million housing units every year or six million housing units within the six-year term of the current administration.