Malabon City administrator and concurrent head of the City Housing and Development Department Alexander Rosete joined researchers and policy advocates during the International Conference on Urban Affairs (ICUA) held at Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York, United States from April 24 -27.
Rosete presented how local government strategies in implementing housing programs help in reducing poverty and promoting resilience and equity, and improve the lives of residents.
The ICUA, housed in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, brings together urban-focused researchers, planners, and policy advocates to examine strategies to make cities more equitable and resilient in the post-pandemic era.
This is the 52nd Annual ICUA of the Urban Affairs Association.
Rosete, a former director and chief administrative officer of the City of Manila’s Urban Settlements Office (MUSO) and the only Filipino presenter in the conference, discussed studies, evaluations, and recommendations for the better implementation of Manila’s Land for the Landless Housing Services Program (LLP) After Forty Years: Basis For Intervention On Development Plan, which helps in eradicating poverty in all forms in the country’s capital.
The program aims to provide aid to tenants/occupants of lands, landed estates, and haciendas in the city of Manila for them to acquire the lands where their houses were built and ensure that these areas are safe, secure, and healthy.
He also shared Malabon City government’ local strategies including housing/relocation programs and a department created to focus on implementing projects that provide safer and better homes for the residents.
Rosete said the study conducted on LLP aims to identify areas of concerns and challenges to be addressed and so that it can better be delivered to the underprivileged and vulnerable sector (informal settler families and the low-income population).
He said they came up with recommendations for the continuation of the program’s implementation including efficiency of collection that will ensure that beneficiaries of the homes will be able to pay for their purchased lands and other charges; integration of livelihood opportunities such as the “Cash 4 Work” program in the LLP, which will allow the qualified beneficiaries to work from 10-30 days and earn money to support their families as well as their purchase of land; the process redesign of the monthly amortization payment, to review existing processes and identify inefficiencies and gaps; and the shift to digital/electronic payments for faster and effective collection of payments and other processes.