Mitigating Potential Issues In Selecting Project Beneficiaries, Estancia

Criteria for beneficiary selection were individually discussed at the community action plan workshop. Photos by Tomoko Matsushita.

On 12 July, community organizers of UN-Habitat visited Samahang Urban ng Maralitang Mamamayan (SUMAMA, Local Association of Urban Poor Communities) – Home Owners Association Inc. (HOAI) in the municipality of Estancia to conduct the shelter project’s first community action plan (CAP) workshop, where community needs and issues were discussed with residents and HOAI officers. Approximately 35 members actively participated throughout the three-hour session, which included an announcement of the list of tentative project beneficiaries.

Among many community infrastructure issues raised, priority was given to drainage improvement. Several residents’ lots have a creek running right in the middle, making the lots unsuitable for building anything on them. HOAI already requested the local government to resolve this by infilling or realigning the existing creek.

Payment of household mortgage arrears was second on the list of priorities, emphasizing the need for clear and standard policy in determining whether or not families who are late in their mortgage payments are eligible for participation in the shelter project. Though it was made clear that the shelter project does not discriminate between paying and non-paying residents, the final list of project beneficiaries must be proposed by HOAI. It is up to the community to decide what conditions, if any, they want implemented for non-paying or delinquent households.

Out of 37 applicants for the shelter project, 21 were identified as eligible beneficiaries by UN-Habitat based on site technical assessments and discussions with the individuals. Before the list of tentative beneficiaries was made public, a UN-Habitat community organizer explained each criterion for beneficiary selection, which seems to have helped community members understand and accept the results of the selection.

The  list of selected tentative  beneficiaries, which HOAI finds to indeed include the neediest of households, will be publicly posted on both entrances to the community for three days, giving residents ample time not only to view the selection but also to apply, re-apply, and express objections.

The list of tentative beneficiaries was posted at two locations at the entrances of the community for three days for public viewing, and community members were free to express any objection. Photos by Tomoko Matsushita.

Philippine Bamboo Tapped for Innovative Resilient Housing

A warehouse for prefabricating bamboo wall panels. Photos by Tomoko Matsushita.

Four representatives from Samahang Urban ng Maralitang Mamamayan (SUMAMA, Local Association of Urban Poor Communities) – Home Owners Association Inc. (HOAI) in Estancia travelled to Iloilo City with the UN-Habitat team on 10 July to see a model typhoon-resistant shelter built from bamboo.

The Hilti Foundation, a European charitable foundation specializing in housing, has been studying and testing the bamboo design since 2012. UN-Habitat will be working in partnership with the Hilti Foundation in Estancia to provide single-story houses built with a bamboo truss roof and reinforced bamboo wall panels covered with cement plaster.

After visiting the bamboo model house and a brief introduction of the Hilti Foundation and its local counterpart, the Homeless People’s Federation of the Philippines, the SUMAMA HOAI group toured the on-site workshop and warehouse where workers were assembling reinforced bamboo panels in various configurations for walls with windows or doors.

Two-story model of bamboo house by Hilti Foundation in Iloilo

Interior view of hefty bamboo roof truss

Women in Panay Actively Step Up in Their Own Rehabilitation

UN-Habitat Community Mobilizing & Training Officer Maria Elvira Borlagdan Duka explains the beneficiary selection criteria and the people-centered process of housing reconstruction by UN-Habitat. Photos by Tomoko Matsushita.

On 9 July, UN-Habitat community organizers met with the Home Owners’ Association Inc. (HOAI) members of Pawa in the municipality of Panay, Capiz. In this coastal community, majority of the men are out at sea where their work and livelihoods are based. As a result, 90% of those who attended the meeting were women.

In the meeting, community members were briefed on their new role as UN-Habitat partners and the organization’s upcoming projects designed to help rehabilitate Haiyan-affected areas. More importantly, criteria for becoming beneficiaries of UN-Habitat shelter projects were discussed in detail, and families were urged to complete and submit information sheets that were handed out if they felt that they met the criteria.

The meeting also discussed upcoming training sessions on construction methods that promoted structural resilience and building back safer homes, targeting local masons and carpenters. The women, however, eagerly spoke up, saying that they wanted to be trained as well, since most of the men would be at sea during the day. They were happily welcomed and encouraged to apply as trainees.

On-site Assessments in Capiz for Potential Shelter Project Beneficiaries

Rogie Alcazaren and family and the remnants of their home—in which they still reside.

On 20 and 23 June, technical assessments were conducted in Belle Village HOAI (Home Owners’ Association Inc.) community in the municipality of Pontevedra, Capiz.  Ninety-five households submitted applications for  reconstruction assistance.  UN-Habitat technical team visited each household to assess the extent of the damage, to check lot boundaries, and to interview the applicants about their current living conditions. While some applicants temporarily live with relatives outside the community, many continue to live in their damaged homes after having done some repairs themselves with salvaged materials. Many of these  repaired houses had not been built back safer and were found to be unsafe and unlikely to withstand future typhoons. In the case of Rogie Alcazaren in Belle Village III, his house was heavily damaged. Despite that, his family (with seven children) had no other option but to continue residing under their now slanted roof and whatever else was left of their house.

Unable to remove the coconut tree trunk that struck their house during Typhoon Haiyan, a doughnut seller and his son continue to live in perilous conditions and are potential project beneficiaries.

Ms. Alcazaren in a makeshift kitchen with a half-exposed wall on one side and a slanted roof overhead.

In Belle Village II, due to its low-lying location and lack of proper community infrastructure, footpaths to the houses are swampy, substantially compromising mobility for people. Improvement of community infrastructure such as drainages and paving the common foot path were identified as urgent issues.

Swampy footpaths in Belle Village II, Pontevedra, compromise the mobility of people and the expedient delivery of goods and services. Photo by Edver Francisco.

So far, out of 2,430 families in 20 HOAI communities from 10 Barangays in Capiz and Iloilo Provinces, 331 families have submitted their applications to UN-Habitat and initial technical assessment and verification of potential beneficiaries were completed at 240 sites. Work is ongoing, and follow-up visits are required to help the HOAIs prepare their final list of qualified beneficiaries.

Shelter Assessment Begins in Iloilo and Capiz

UN-Habitat technical team inspecting existing house and site conditions in Pontevedra, Capiz. Photos by Beryl Jane Dela Cruz.

Since 18 June, UN-Habitat has been conducting technical surveys in potential beneficiary communities of the Post-Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlements Project across Western Visayas.

The team of shelter experts, architects, and community mobilizers visited residential lots acquired under the Community Mortgage Program to inspect the current conditions of the damaged houses, gather information on land tenure, and assess the state of sanitation. The assessment uses  a tool kit detailing the damage and reconstruction requirements of each house.

UN-Habitat technical team verifying the location of the houses on the map with community members. Photo by Beryl Jane Dela Cruz.

To further determine a beneficiary’s eligibility, UN-Habitat evaluated each household’s capacity to recover from typhoon impacts. UN-Habitat closely collaborated with leaders and members of home owners’ associations in validating data gathered from the household profiling done in April 2014.

Funded by the Government of Japan, the shelter project is also a partnership with the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC).

UN-Habitat and Local Partners Collaborate on Design for 610 Resilient Homes in Capiz

UN-Habitat Project Manager Robert Deutsch and Shelter Expert Chrispin Ojiambo at a design meeting with UAP members Emmanuel Espino, Al Berdugo, and Edver Francisco.

As part of the Post-Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlement Project funded by the Government of Japan, UN-Habitat will be building 610 houses in  around 30 communities in the provinces of Capiz and Iloilo.  As the project operates using a community-driven approach, it also includes the training of local skilled workers on construction methods for building strong shelters, as well as the repair and improvement of key community infrastructure such as drainages.

Design of the shelters was developed in collaboration with  the Capiz chapter of the United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) while the structural integrity was checked by the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines.  The design is now being finalized even as  technical site assessment and beneficiary selection are ongoing.

Study models of the wooden roof structure.

The house provided by UN-Habitat will be a core house—a strong and safe shelter measuring 4.2 by 5 meters which can be incrementally expanded in the future.  Its structural framework is reinforced concrete with a collar beam. The lower walls are made with hollow concrete blocks, while the upper walls are from bamboo infill panels.

The structure has a four-sided hip roof built with a single wooden truss crossing the structure diagonally and supporting other rafters. The design incorporates DRR features such as reinforced attachment of structural elements and can resist
up to 200-km/h wind loads.

3-D rendering of a typical core house shelter to be provided to the beneficiaries. Illustration by Al Berdugo.

Estancia pledges support to UN-Habitat shelter recovery project

UN Habitat, together with its partner, Hilti Foundation, recently held a meeting with the town administrators of Estancia to discuss the Post-Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlement Project, which identified a potential beneficiary community in Poblacion Zone 1 of the municipality.

Project Manager, Mr. Robert Deutsch, introduced UN Habitat’s plan of constructing typhoon-resistant houses for over 600 families in various parts of Western Visayas that were devastated by Yolanda. He also added that the project would also cover the training of local skilled workers on building robust shelters and the repair and improvement of key community infrastructures.  

Ms. Nerissa Piamonte discussed the integration of Hilti Foundation’s bamboo shelter model into the core house design. The organization strongly advocates the optimization of locally available and sustainable construction materials.

Standing in for Mayor Rene Cordero, the executive administrators, Ms. Ninfa Nacionales and Ms. Lina Acosta, expressed their gratitude to UN Habitat and Hilti Foundation, and assured that the municipal government will provide technical assistance wherever possible. Also present was Municipal Planning & Development Coordinator, Mr. Eugene Tentativa, Ms. Maria Socorro D. Ignacio (UN Habitat), and Ms. Ruby Rose Robas (Hilti Foundation).

Other potential beneficiary sites that were identified so far, in consultation with the Social Housing Finance Corporation, include Brgys. Guba, Ilawod, and Tacas in Pontevedra; Brgys. Bato, Baybay, Punta Tabuc, Tiza in Roxas City; and Brgy. Tanza Norte of Panay.