Council approves Cebu City socialized housing trust fund

THE Cebu City Council has approved an ordinance creating a trust fund for socialized housing.

Councilor Alvin Dizon, the author, said he is optimistic the fund would improve the lives of the city’s 30,000 informal settlers, many of whom are living in hazard zones like rivers and creeks.

The target for this year is to raise P50 million to P70 million for the trust fund.

Dizon said, this will greatly help the city government in addressing problems of urban poor communities, many of them facing threats of demolition and natural disasters.

For 2013, Dizon said a proposal will be pushed to to allocate P25 million for site development and P50 million for lot acquisition.

Dizon said he also expects a P1 billion allocation from the national government for relocating urban poor communities living in geo-hazard zones.

“The Socialized Housing fund will be an exclusive fund for the socialized housing program,” said Dizon.

The Socialized Housing Trust Fund can come from deposits of developers who are required by law to set aside 20 percent of the total project cost of a subdivision project for socialized housing.

Another source is grants and donations from government and private institutions.

Investments can be recovered through amortization payments by beneficiaries of the city’s socialized housing program.

Implementing rules for the trust fund are still being finalized.

Dizon said they already received pledges of contribution from housing developers and other institutions.

The Local Government Code mandates local government units (LGUs) to maintain Trust Funds for “private and public monies which have officially come into the possession of the local government or of a local government official as trustee, agent or administrator, or which have been received as a guaranty for the fulfillment of some obligation.”

“It is hoped that through this, the city will have a better housing program for the poor,” said Dizon, who chairs the council’s committee on housing. /Correspondent Tweeny M. Malinao