The Philippines Alliance works with the urban poor living in informal settlements across the Philippines, as well as more vulnerable groups, such as communities living in high-risk conditions on land susceptible to natural and man-made disasters or those facing the threat of eviction. It also partners with local government and other stakeholders to provide sustainable housing solutions for the urban poor. The Alliance is a partnership between five organisations; Homeless Peoples Federation Philippines Inc. (HPFPI), Philippine Action for Community-led Shelter Initiatives Inc. (PACSII), Technical Assistance Movement for People and the Environment Inc. (TAMPEI), Community Resources for the Advancement of Capable Societies (CoRe-ACS), and LinkBuild. Each of these organisations has a particular role, and work in partnership throughout the process of acquiring land tenure and providing new housing solutions for the urban poor.
The
work of HPFPI started with the creation of savings groups amongst waste-pickers
living on a garbage dump site in the barangay
(neighbourhood) of Payatas, in Quezon City, Metro Manila in the 1990s.
Originally addressing immediate basic needs, the programme evolved to address
issues of land security and eviction. Its successes in Quezon City in addition
to local and international networking and exchanges encouraged the federation
to intensify its work, and expand across the country. Today HPFPI is a national federation of
community associations and savers pursuing community-led housing and upgrading
processes. The main role of the federation is to promote and facilitate savings
amongst member-communities, as a way of building the financial capability of
communities to invest in their own development. This mobilisation aims to uphold
the aspirations of its members to secure their own land, maintain decent living
conditions, break the cycle of poverty, and protect their dignity and human rights. For more information on the history and operation of HPFPI, click here.
The Philippine Alliance
has been an active agent in Mandaue City since 2000. Their work is primarily
focused on two large sites, involving a large number of communities, each one at
a different stage of settlement upgrading. The team collaborate with Local
Government Units (LGU), in the hope of addressing the housing gaps within the
city, by adopting a sustainable citywide approach which benefits both the
low-income groups, as well as the city’s vision of development. This post hopes
to explain the approach that has been adopted for the upgrading of the 6.5
Relocation Site in Paknaan, one of the two prominent sites where the Alliance
is active in Mandaue City.
PACSII is a non-profit NGO, registered in 2002, and serves as the
intermediary support institution to HPFPI, coordinating the Alliance’s
programmes across the various regions, providing overall guidance in their
mission. PACSII provides extensive assistance
on legal and financial matters, finding resources, serving as a legal holder
for these resources, but most importantly giving the federation the space and
opportunity to genuinely develop as a community-driven institution.
TAMPEI is the technical support unit of the Alliance, supporting the federation in community-led technical processes, specifically through the design of low-cost incremental housing, community upgrading, community mapping and planning initiatives at different scales; from community to city level developments.
LinkBuild and CoRe-ACS are
newly-formed social enterprise and micro-finance institutions which support the
communities that form the federation. LinkBuild provides development finance
and builds houses while Core-ACS provides end user financing for low-income
families through accessible loan systems. LinkBuild was formed in order for the
Alliance to deliver sustainable housing to scale for HPFPI members, affiliates
and partner community networks. HPFPI and TAMPEI are directly engaged in the
project planning and implementation processes in order to ensure community
preparedness and involvement. Surplus and cross-subsidy projects are being
explored as means to sustain the programs and make housing affordable for very
low-income families. Houses constructed by Linkbuild are sold to CoRe-ACS, which
is then responsible for handing over the houses to households who have been assessed
and approved to receive a housing loan, and administrating and collecting these
loans.
PACSII is a non-profit NGO, registered in 2002, and serves as the
intermediary support institution to HPFPI, coordinating the Alliance’s
programmes across the various regions, providing overall guidance in their
mission. PACSII provides extensive assistance
on legal and financial matters, finding resources, serving as a legal holder
for these resources, but most importantly giving the federation the space and
opportunity to genuinely develop as a community-driven institution.TAMPEI is the technical support unit of the Alliance, supporting the federation in community-led technical processes, specifically through the design of low-cost incremental housing, community upgrading, community mapping and planning initiatives at different scales; from community to city level developments.
LinkBuild and CoRe-ACS are
newly-formed social enterprise and micro-finance institutions which support the
communities that form the federation. LinkBuild provides development finance
and builds houses while Core-ACS provides end user financing for low-income
families through accessible loan systems. LinkBuild was formed in order for the
Alliance to deliver sustainable housing to scale for HPFPI members, affiliates
and partner community networks. HPFPI and TAMPEI are directly engaged in the
project planning and implementation processes in order to ensure community
preparedness and involvement. Surplus and cross-subsidy projects are being
explored as means to sustain the programs and make housing affordable for very
low-income families. Houses constructed by Linkbuild are sold to CoRe-ACS, which
is then responsible for handing over the houses to households who have been assessed
and approved to receive a housing loan, and administrating and collecting these
loans. 
