BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong announced the Housing Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) is inclined to fund the land development of the city government’s housing projects to be erected on two city-owned properties as the city’s socialized housing project geared towards addressing the housing needs of government workers and the homeless.
The City Mayor said the city-owned 1.2-hectare property in Gibraltar will be used for the housing of employees and officials of the city government while the other 1.8-hectare property of the city will be for its socialized housing project and the put-up of the proposed evacuation center for calamity victims.
He claimed the offer of the HLURB to shoulder the land development of these two city-owned properties for various housing projects greatly help in advancing the city government’s efforts in providing decent housing for the members of the marginalized sectors of the city.
Earlier, Magalong stated that the put-up of tenement housing units is the way to go for the city in effectively and efficiently addressing the housing needs of the members of the marginalized sectors because of the lack of adequate lands.
According to him, what is important for such housing project is that it is decent and will provide the basic housing needs of the people for them to have a decent affordable home for their families.
He underscored the importance of the city government having an evacuation center so that the parts of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) building devoted for potential evacuees could be freed for other purposes to improve the city government’s disaster risk reduction and management during the calamities.
The previous members of the City Council approved the so-called City Shelter Plan 2018-2022 that detailed the interventions to be initiated by the city government, in coordination with concerned stakeholders, to effectively and efficiently address the rapidly increasing housing needs of the growing population of the city.
The city mayor emphasized the need for the city government to maximize the potential uses of its existing city-owned properties to provide decent housing for its qualified beneficiaries considering its limited land area amidst its rapidly increasing population due to the in-migration from the other areas contributing to the problems of housing.
He urged concerned stakeholders to support the initiative of the city government in providing decent housing for the qualified beneficiaries to help address the proliferation of informal settlers in the different barangays that negatively impact on private properties, safeguarded lands and forest reservations that are often squatted upon because of the absence of decent housing for them.
By Dexter A. See
