Wednesday, September 01, 2004 Low-cost homes built in 2 weeks to last over 20 years
A NON-GOVERNMENT organization is offering to help families own a home through an innovative low-cost housing program that involves building houses that can easily be moved to another area when necessary.
Marissa Puche, president of the Philippine NGO for Poverty Alleviation Inc., said the aim is to help 1,000 homeless families own a home.
The program is ideal for those who already own lots.
“They can buy the house and have it constructed on the lot,” she told Sun.Star. “If they don’t own the lot, but someone will lease them the lot, we can also build the house there.”
It will take just two weeks to build the special house, which is collapsible, so that if the homeowner had it built on a lot he did not own, he could easily transfer the house to a lot he does own later on.
Puche said the housing units will last more than 20 years, although they cost only from P110,000–P150,000. They are payable through monthly amortizations of P1,800–P4,500.
The Philippine NGO for Poverty Alleviation Inc., which is national in scope but based in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, started two years ago with a health program for its members, specifically education in alternative medicine.
It moved on to livelihood programs, and now housing. The group now has about 100 members.
Only members may take advantage of the housing program, but Puche said the “lifetime membership” fee was just P100.
She said the group wants to get in touch with lot owners who have idle empty lots in Cebu.
Lease
If the lot owners adopted the NGO’s housing program, they would lease for a number of years the property to those who want to have their own homes constructed.
“They would not be obligated to sell their property,” she said.
Puche said she had talked to Lapu-Lapu City, which may consider the program for its urban poor.
The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council had also “liked the idea,” she added.
The NGO’s housing program provides other benefits to the buyer upon full payment of 30 percent equity and upon full payment of the housing unit.
It boasts of being the only low-cost housing program that incorporates a livelihood opportunity, insurance protection and a savings plan for the buyers so that their economic status improves as they fully pay for their house.
Puche, a graduate of St. Theresa’s high school, worked for 17 years in the National Electrification Administration and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. An accredited mediator of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, she is the 2001 Supreme Court Centennial Peace awardee.
There will be a free orientation at the NGO office at 858 Quezon National Highway in Pajo, Lapu-Lapu City. Reservations may be made through 0926-2694008. (CTL)
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