The UN Habitat’s Post Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlements Project intends to build over 500 houses for disaster-stricken areas in the island of Panay. With this, the UN focused on the cities of Panay and Pontevedra in Capiz and Estancia, Iloilo. Moreover, the partnership between UN Habitat and the Base Bahay Foundation is grounded on the purpose of providing shelter, reconstruction, and rehabilitation for families affected by typhoon Yolanda. Base Bahay has collaborated with the UN Habitat’s Post Yolanda Support for Safer Homes and Settlements Project through the creation of the Estancia Reconstruction Project; an initiative that will build approximately 21 houses for disaster-stricken communities in the municipality of Estancia, Iloilo.

In order to ensure that the new homes respond to the needs of the respective communities, both organizations actively conducted a series of site assessments, geo-technical assessments and beneficiary evaluations. This rigorous process resulted to the identification of twenty-seven beneficiaries for the twenty lots that have been allocated to create bamboo houses in the SUMaMa Zone 1.

The Estancia Reconstruction Project will serve as the reference for the one-story single detached bamboo house which will provide an opportunity for the beneficiaries to own resilient and environment friendly houses.

The purpose of establishing a project reference site is to test acceptability of bamboo as the primary or load bearing material in house construction and using the technology and structural integrity of Bamboo as tested by Hilti Foundation Technical Program. The reference site will also test the marketability of the price of bamboo houses or will be a tool for customer acceptance testing. Foundations of the 20 houses will be done by UN Habitat while the actual construction supervision and guidance will be done by Base Bahay, Inc., while the workers will be hired by SUMAMA.

RESULTS
Houses Built: 21 houses
Beneficiary Profile: Urban Poor
Area: Estancia
Housing Type: Single-Storey Detached