Project for homeless Pinoys launched in Quezon City today

MANILA, Philippines — A public-private cooperation initiative seeking to build one million houses for one million homeless Filipino families will be launched today, with Quezon City as a pilot area.

Spearheaded by international development organization We Effect, several government agencies and private partners will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a socialized housing project, which aims to build one million homes nationwide for 10 years.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte will lead the signing of the MOU with officials of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, National Home Mortgage and Financing Corp., Social Housing Finance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund and Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Development of the Philippines Inc.

Quezon City was chosen as pilot site for the project because of the local government’s commitment to address the problem of informal settlers.

The agreement covers seven areas of cooperation in mass housing production and end-beneficiary matching: planning, implementation and policy-making; social preparation; land acquisition and development, resource mobilization and financing; site development and construction; resettlement, community development for sustainability and resiliency, as well as economic empowerment for the beneficiaries.

We Effect board member Anders Lago, president of Swedish cooperative housing association HSB, said the project is challenging, but it can be attained through cooperation from the public and private sectors.

“The goal is to build one million apartments until 2030. Of course we can’t do it by ourselves. That’s impossible. So we need the support from the government and private partners,” Lago told The STAR. “We did it in Sweden. I think it can be done in the Philippines too.”

We Effect country director Jessica Soto, who will sign the MOU for the organization, said the project would lift Filipinos out of poverty as it will provide them access to socialized housing.