National Housing Authority general manager Joeben Tai. (File photo)
MANILA – A total 30,000 low-income families throughout the country can look forward to getting their own housing unit from the government before the year ends, National Housing Authority (NHA) general manager Joeben Tai said Wednesday.
"When I assumed my post on August 1, 2022, I promised to build better and more housing for our country's poor. And true to this commitment, we are set to award 30,000 housing units to low-income families and homeless Filipinos before the year ends,” he said in a statement.
Coinciding with his first 100 days in office, Tai outlined his plans and accomplishments under the Marcos administration's Build Better and More housing program.
Under the leadership of Tai, the NHA has released a total of PHP2.391 billion in cash aid in Regions 1 (Ilocos Region), 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), and the National Capital Region (Metro Manila).
In the aftermath of the earthquake that hit the Ilocos Region in July 2022, Tai distributed financial assistance to families whose houses were damaged.
Through its Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP), the NHA released cash assistance amounting to PHP10,000 for families whose houses were partially damaged and PHP20,000 for families whose houses were completely destroyed.
Tai visited the earthquake-devastated Ilocos Sur and Abra provinces and distributed EHAP cash assistance to the affected families on July 27, 2022
A total of PHP263.71 million in financial assistance benefitted 25,989 families in Abra, while a total of PHP6.85 million in cash aid was released to 679 families in Ilocos Sur.
Tai also distributed EHAP funds amounting to PHP4.59 million to 459 families in 20 barangays affected by a fire in Zamboanga City.
Tai also conducted a series of site visits and ocular inspections of NHA housing projects in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for an inventory of available and completed housing units, as well as ongoing projects.
This was meant to ensure that the housing projects of the NHA met the demands and needs of its beneficiaries, he said.
He said the site inspections were also aimed at finding other suitable sites for the NHA’s future housing construction and development.
Tai earlier visited 27 NHA housing project sites in the provinces of Ilocos Sur, Abra, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Rizal and Cavite, as well as the cities of Bacolod, Iloilo and Zamboanga.
The NHA also awarded a total of 987 housing units to informal settler families in San Jose Del Monte City, Bulacan and in Iloilo, officers of the Philippine National Police, members of the Presidential Security Group, and urban low-income families affected by the Supreme Court mandamus in the provinces of Rizal, Cavite and Laguna.
With a PHP2-billion budget for 2023, Tai vowed to fulfill the NHA's share in addressing the country's 6.5 million housing backlog.
He said throughout his term, the NHA will build 1.3 million new homes and sustainable communities despite limited funding, in partnership with the private sector and local government units. (PNA)
