Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso on Monday awarded a housing unit in the city’s Tondominium 1 project to Jessie Boy Postrero, a resident of Smokey Mountain who had struggled to find permanent housing for his family.

The unit became available after Felisa Esquivel gave it up. Her family’s fortunes had improved, allowing them to move to a new home. The city refunded her P51,350, which covered all of her monthly payments.

“Because of her improving life, Mrs. Esquivel voluntarily moved to a different house,” Domagoso said.

The mayor said the vacated unit would be given to Postrero, who had previously applied for the city’s housing program but was not selected in the raffle.

Postrero had told Domagoso about the harsh living conditions his family endured in Smokey Mountain, where they rented space in an illegal structure and relied on unsafe water sources.

Tondominium 1 is a 15-story building with 168 units, each measuring 42 square meters and featuring two bedrooms. It is one of Manila’s flagship public housing projects, guided by a city ordinance that promotes the right of residents to “an adequate and dignified standard of living including access to decent and affordable housing.”

Under the ordinance, minimum wage earners pay a monthly rent of P2,000 for both horizontal and vertical housing units.

The projects have a 50-year length of stay.