Employees of the city government of San Fernando are given affordable housing settlements through a socialized housing project.
This as the local government officially opened Townhomes San Fernando in one of its northernmost villages, barangay Panipuan, and turned over the initial batches of about 200 housing units to the beneficiaries.
Human Settlements and Urban Development Secretary Eduardo del Rosario underscored that the project is envisioned to become a model township in the city which provides housing units that are affordable, decent, and comfortable to live in.
“We are not simply building units. We are not simply building communities, but communities where a group of people can live peacefully… We ensure that no substandard housing units or projects will ever be constructed, and this project is our standard,” he said during the turnover ceremony.
The project has a total of 937 housing units of one-story row house with loft, each 42-square meters in size with living area, kitchen and dining area, bathroom, and open laundry area at the ground floor; and two bedrooms at the second floor.
Also, del Rosario emphasized that Townhomes San Fernando is something that the city should be proud of as it is a subdivision type housing project that has road networks and drainage system, and complete with facilities for water and electricity.
As the city’s partner for the project, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development will be funding the perimeter fence of the area, and sponsor the building of a 2.2-million-worth day care center, and a covered court.
The project contractor, Baque Corporation will also build a market within the site to bolster the overall operations of the 9-hectare land.
In addition, Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) President Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling said that the city’s townhomes highlight the concept of ownership, sense of neighborhood, and is community-driven as it is completed through the unity of all members of the community from the national and local government, private sector, and the people themselves.
“About 6.5 million Filipinos do not have shelter, and this is a big challenge for us. We hope that this project will be a model and inspiration. We will overcome our challenges on housing and settlements if we will be working together,” he pressed.
During the ceremonial turnover, officials also led the groundbreaking for the rising of a two-story building for the SHFC regional office to bring closer its services to the people as an attached key shelter agency under the DHSUD.
For his part, City of San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago stated that the local government is lucky to be chosen as the pilot site for the housing project as this enabled their vision of providing housing units to the employees which they can call as their own.
“Home is the starting place to have hope and dreams. The symbol of true love is the connection between the members of family inside their homes…One measure of the local government in the completion of these houses is to provide a good life, and ensure the security of our employees,” he stated.
The beneficiaries of the housing settlement will have to pay for about P2,000 monthly amortization, payable for 25 to 30 years, with each unit amounting to about P640,000.