The city government here is giving houses to indigent families for free in support of the Pambansang Pabahay Para sa Pilipino Housing (4PH) program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Mayor Roderick Furigay said Tuesday that they have so far handed out 170 housing units, and 380 more are to be raffled to qualified beneficiaries.

Aside from indigents, Furigay said other qualified beneficiaries of the program are those affected by road widening projects, displaced by floods and river bank dwellers.

“The qualified beneficiaries are properly screened by the City Housing Board,” Furigay said in an interview.

He said the housing units were built in 80 to 100 square meter lots with a floor area of the houses ranging from 60 to 70 square meters.

Furigay has also ordered officials of the city’s 45 villages to look for a 5,000 square meter or one-hectare lot that will serve as the site of more houses for the project.

Meanwhile, the mayor said there are also housing projects implemented in this city through the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development. Another similar initiative involves a partnership with the Office of the Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, with 20 percent counterpart from the city government.

Furigay presented partly the housing programs of the city government in his first State of the City Address on Monday.

“Our efforts were primarily geared towards social services, agro-industrial development, infrastructure, and good governance,” he said. “All these are engines of growth and critical elements in our bid to shape Lamitan City’s bright future ahead.” (PNA)