STA.BARBARA–Less than four months after attending a Gawad Kalinga seminar at the University of the Philippines and Ateneo, the municipal mayor here said his town is now ready to build a housing project for homeless families.

Mayor Reynaldo Velasco said he was among 100 mayors throughout the country invited to that seminar which he said was worth it because a few months later he signed a memorandum of agreement with officials of GK that will help the municipality build the housing units.

Velasco, a retired three-star general of the Philippine National Police, signed the agreement on Tuesday with Antonio Meloto, GK national president, and Lyndon Bonzon, GK regional coordinator.

Meloto said beneficiaries of the housing units should have plenty of food through their own initiative, he said.

Under the agreement, 88 houses will be constructed on a one-hectare lot in barangay Leet donated to the municipality by the Department of Agrarian Reform, each unit measuring 40 square meters.

He said the municipal government will build within one month the model unit based on the design prescribed by GK. Right after, the GK will come and help build the other units.

Each house measures 40 square meters with 10 square meters at the back as open space.

Velasco said DAR is set to donate two more hectares to serve as the community’s common communal farm from where they can raise vegetables, chicken and hogs or where they can put up a livelihood center.