Around 10,000 minimum wage earners and city government employees are expected to benefit from the construction of government housing units in Marikina City, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said on Friday.
The President led the site inspection of the government housing project in Marikina City under his administration's flagship program billed Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino: Zero Informal Settler Family 2028.
The groundbreaking of the five-hectare project was led by Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development and Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro on 7 October.
The Bagong Sibol housing project is the second housing project to break ground in the National Capital Region, the DHSUD said.
The first DHSUD project was launched on 22 September with the signing of a memorandum of agreement followed by the same-day groundbreaking at the Harmony Hills Terraces in Quezon City.
The government's housing program aims to address the housing backlog in the country pegged at more than 6.5 million units.
The President has tasked the DHSUD to build 1 million housing units every year for the next six years, with P36 billion annual interest support from the national government.
The DHSUD, in a statement, estimated that 1.7 million jobs would be generated annually through the government's housing program.
Further, the agency sees the project could trigger economic activities in 80 allied industries like cement, steel, and paint.