Baguio City is the first local government in northern Luzon to secure a grant from the government to implement its socialized housing project dubbed as the ‘permaculture community.’
City Planning and Development Coordinator Arch. Dona R. Tabangin stated that the P255 million grant for the city’s socialized housing project was obtained from the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) that will cover the put up of several structures within the 1.8-hectare city-owned property.
She claimed that under the grant, the city can build some 8 structures that could accommodate some 270 socialized housing units with provisions of road networks, bio-filtration plant and ready for the put up of solar farms in the roofs of the structures, thus, the roofs had been designed to face south in preparation for possible investors.
Permaculture is a holistic approach to regenerative living that highlights individual and community responsibilities for sustainability and focuses on choice, values, ethics and the way in which human beings interact with the natural world. Sustainable living is a lifetime choice that considers a person’s relationship within the community and the natural environment and seeks harmony with both.
Tabangin claimed that only 40 percent of the land will be the built-up area while the remaining 60 percent will be devoted for green spaces to help in bringing back the greenery of the city.
Initially, the city will be putting up 2 structures with some 64 socialized housing units that will be offered for residents in identified high risk areas that need to be relocated to safer grounds.
According to her, the Irisan ‘permaculture community’ will be the first of its kind of socialized housing project not only in the Cordillera but also in northern Luzon and will be the model for similar projects to be established in other parts of the country.
One of the major projects of the city is for the put up of decent socialized housing projects for the housing needs of members of the city’s informal sector and residents living in identified high risk areas that warrant their relocation to safer grounds.
Tabangin explained that the preparation of the plans and specifications of the socialized housing project is a combined effort of the City planning and Development Office, the City Engineering Office, City Environment and Parks Management Office, and the City Buildings and Architecture Office, as all the issues and concerns relative to the same shall have been addressed.
The implementation of the project will be done in partnership with the DHSUD and the National Housing Authority (NHA) which are the lead agencies in the prosecution of government-led housing projects in the country.
For the past several years, the city had been looking forward to the implementation of its socialized housing project for the housing needs of the informal settlers in the different barangays. By Dexter A. See