This pilot project housed 21 member-families of KABALAKA Homeowner’s Association (HOA), who were facing threat of eviction from informal villages in Iloilo City. After four years of consistently saving, the HOA became the first association to acquire land by direct purchase, purchasing a 7000 square-meter property through a local bank. However, members who had yet to repay their loans struggled to afford house construction and were forced to remain living in nearby informal settlements.

The households who benefitted from the project actively participated in all steps of the housing development process, including design and planning, cost estimates, construction, and overall management of the project. Loan funds were made available to them through the HOA, in partnership with PACSII and Reall. As a demonstration project KABALAKA aimed to show how low-income housing designs and appropriate financing schemes could be developed using participatory and community-managed approaches.

In total 10 row houses, 8 duplexes and 3 single-detached houses were constructed, each fully equipped with sanitation, household water and electricity, and with independent access and use of land.