Mayor Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez is tapping the help of national government agencies to bring down the cost of the 10,000 housing units the city government is set to build for Bacolod Informal Settler Families (ISF) to make them more affordable, Councilor Vladimir Gonzalez said Monday, November 14.
Benitez, who has been self-isolating after he tested positive for COVID-19, joined a Zoom meeting with the city Committee on Urban Poor, Housing and Resettlement on Monday.
Gonzalez said the mayor is finding ways to lengthen the period for amortization payments and to get subsidies to cover part of the interest rates.
Negotiations are underway to make the housing units affordable to residents, and construction will commence next year, he said.
The monthly income of the ISFs and what they can afford have been surveyed, Gonzalez.
Surveys also show that there are more than 7,000 families living in danger zones, he said.
The city government is constructing medium-rise housing buildings at its Arao property in Barangay Vista Alegre, Barangay Banago and at the Reclamation Area with the Department of Urban Housing and Resettlement, Gonzalez said.*