OVER a month after a destructive fire destroyed thousands of houses in an informal settlement along NIA Road in Quezon City, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) has begun ground preparations for a national government housing project for the victims.
Secretary Jose Ramon Aliling, along with Undersecretary Eduardo Robles Jr. and National Housing Authority General Manager Joeben Tai, inspected the site on Monday (April 13) to ensure that construction work is within the set completion schedule.
The Manila Times was told that the project has been accelerated due to the effort and cooperation of the city government under the stewardship of Mayor Joy Belmonte, who promised her constituents — the fire victims — they would not be totally displaced as the government would build housing units for them to return to normal lives.
DHSUD chief Aliling said that the NIA Road project would be part of the housing department’s urban renewal program, in close collaboration with NHA and the local government, aimed at transforming blighted areas into “decent, safer and sustainable communities that promote dignified living for the beneficiaries.”
"This NIA Road project would serve as a prime model of the government’s urban renewal efforts," he added.
More than 2,000 families have been displaced after the March 7, 2026 fire.
Two days after the destructive fire that drove displaced families to the city's evacuation centers, Aliling and Belmonte visited the site and agreed to pursue the housing project under the expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) program of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration.
Initial housing assistance was subsequently provided to the fire victims, according to the local government.
The DHSUD and the city government are eyeing a rental housing scheme for the NIA Road project to ensure sustainability, the housing czar said.
