Palace: Over 26,000 Yolanda housing units still unfinished

MANILA, Philippines — At least 26,000 housing units for Yolanda victims remain unfinished more than five years after the super typhoon devastated the Visayas, Malacañang said yesterday. 

Citing a report of the National Housing Authority, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said that 56,140 of 205,128 housing units constructed for Yolanda victims are in Eastern Visayas. 

Of the 56,140 houses, only 29,531 units have been completed, including 18,183 that have been occupied and 11,348 ready for occupancy. 

To address the issue, Nograles directed the mayors in Leyte to reactivate the local inter-agency committee (LIAC) that were formed to ensure the successful turnover of the Yolanda resettlement housing projects.

“We have to address this by reactivating the LIAC. If the LIAC is active, major milestones will be observed such as the submission of a complete list of beneficiaries, monitoring the status of the construction, facilitating the actual transfer of the beneficiaries and coming up with occupancy rules and regulations,” Nograles said in a statement. 

He appealed to local government units (LGUs) to support and participate in the committee undertaking, noting that only through the LIAC can the housing program be properly implemented.

The LIAC is composed of mayors and department heads of local government offices as well as members of civil society groups and representatives from the private sector.

The government aims to complete all housing projects by next year. 

Nograles said the LIAC is active in 12 of 43 LGUs provided with Yolanda housing projects.

He said significant accomplishments have been observed in LGUs where the LIAC is active.

Nograles, chairman of an interagency task force on the rehabilitation and recovery of areas hit by Yolanda, said it was necessary to determine the needs of resettlement sites and include them in the 2020 budget.

The distribution of the housing units was discussed during a meeting between Nograles and the mayors of Eastern Visayas in Palo, Leyte on Saturday.