Housing for city gov’t employees to rise in QC

A medium-rise housing complex intended for city government employees will soon rise in Barangay Vasra on Visayas Avenue, Project 6 in Quezon City.

Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said final preparations are now being made by the city government’s Housing and Urban Renewal Authority (HURA) for the construction of four buildings which can accommodate 300 families.

HURA, the corporate arm of Quezon City government, was created to lead the transformation of slums into orderly communities, where majority can live on a given piece of land.

The city housing agency is constructing medium-rise buildings through efficient space management plan to provide dwelling units for low-income families. Last year, HURA constructed two medium-rise residential building in Barangay Escopa II in District 3. They can house at least 160 families.

Belmonte said indigent families are now ready to move into the Escopa housing complex through an arrangement with the Pag-Ibig fund that enables the poor to avail of housing loans.

Apart from housing projects, the city government is also working hand-in-hand with the Habitat for Humanity and Gawad Kalinga, which use the so-called "sweat equity" to allow the poor to build their own houses.

Under the Gawad Kalinga project, a beneficiary will have to work a certain number of hours in exchange for a housing unit.

At least 160 houses were constructed in Quezon City under the scheme.

The government provides roadways, sewage facilities and water through arrangements with water concessionaires for housing project being undertaken by non-government organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Gawad Kalinga. – Perseus Echeminada