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Vice President Noli de Castro has announced that low-cost housing technologies accredited by the government will be showcased in a Housing Fair to be held on Oct. 28 to 29 at the Glorietta in Makati City. De Castro, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, said the Accreditation of Indigenous Technologies for Housing, an inter-agency committee headed by HUDCC, evaluates and accredits innovative technologies and systems for housing. The National Housing Authority under general manager Federico Laxa serves as the Aitech secretariat. Aitech accredits local and international technologies that use non-traditional or alternative materials that can significantly reduce construction costs. Aitech also places emphasis on the technologiesÂ’ environmental considerations.
A top lawmaker says he wants a guarantee from Gov. Haley Barbour that consumers, rather than contractors, will benefit from the governor's proposed tax cut on modular housing - the sole issue in a special legislative session that starts Thursday. "Usually, the homeowner does not pay the tax directly," House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, said in a written statement Wednesday. "Instead, it is paid by the contractor when he buys the modular home and simply becomes a part of the cost of construction. The homeowner never sees it." Barbour says decreasing the tax rate on modular homes could help speed up rebuilding in south Mississippi, where thousands of people are still waiting to rebuild their homes more than 13 months after Hurricane Katrina. The governor's spokesman, Pete Smith, said lowering the tax rate would benefit home buyers.
(AXcess News) Washington - An economic slowdown has caused homebuyers to think twice about buying a new home as inflation drove up living costs for most Americans thanks to a spike in energy prices and growing concerns in the workplace. New-home construction in August fell 6 percent, the Commerce Department reported, with new-home construction down nearly 20 percent compared to the same period last year when the boom inhousing was still at its peak. Total housing starts dropped 6.0 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.665 million units, according to figures released by the Commerce Department today. The pace of new-home construction was down 19.8 percent from a year earlier, which was a record-breaking year. Builders slowed the pace of single-family home construction by 5.9 percent for the month to 1.360 million units, a 20.6 percent drop from a year earlier.
Jodie and Paul Samala's long journey from a cramped, overpriced apartment to the joys of owning a roomy, affordable house began soon after Hurricane Ivan's arrival two years ago."We were in a rental at the time," said Jodie Samala. "My husband and I almost bought a house before Ivan. But after the storm, the owners backed out."In the immediate wake of the hurricane, Paul Samala lost his job at the Crowne Plaza Pensacola Grand hotel, which is set to reopen in November after months of storm repairs.The couple and their small child were forced to move in with relatives.Because Ivan destroyed some 2,000 rental units in the greater Pensacola area, finding an affordable unit was a major challenge, Jodie Samala said.Eventually the Samalas found a rental apartment, but their monthly payments soared from $675 to $1,100, well beyond what they could afford."We knew we had to do something," she said.What they did was approach the City of Pensacola's Housing Department and apply for down-payment assistance through the state's Hurricane Housing Recovery Program.Because the Samalas' gross income was about 80 percent of the median average for the Pensacola area, the family of three qualified for a $50,000 grant, which would be held by the city and treated as a second mortgage.That grant money, coupled with the Samalas' conventional first mortgage, helped them purchase a new home in June and effectively lowered their monthly payments to a figure that, by general rule, must be less than 30 percent of gross family income.And to sweeten the deal, $10,000 of the Samalas' $50,000 second mortgage will be forgiven after the first year if they decide to sell the home, according to Jimmie McFall, manager of the city's SHIP (State Housing Initiatives Partnership) program.The remaining $40,000 will be forgiven once the mortgage is paid."We probably would have left Pensacola had we not be able to buy an affordable home," said Jodie Samala, a 1993 graduate of Catholic High School.McFall says Hurricane Housing Recovery Program money, which may run out within the year, is being maximized in the Escambia and Santa Rosa area.Using those funds, and taking advantage of several in-fill vacant lots, McFall says the city has more than 30 affordable housing units under construction, with more on the way.A home of her ownKaren Incera is another grateful recipient of Hurricane Housing Recovery Program money and was one of the fortunate ones to be given, at no cost to her, a vacant in-fill lot acquired by the city.The former Miami resident, who works for Deep South Crane Rentals Inc., said she expects to move into her new home on Coyle Street early next month."Someone mentioned the State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program to me, and I called, and they gave me a pamphlet," said Incera, a single mother of three.
PCL Construction has built many notable buildings in Regina, including the First Nations University of Canada, shown above. The company, which started in Saskatchewan 100 years ago, will be named to the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce's Business Hall of Fame. .
When Olajide Timothy escaped from Lafenwa Police, in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, where he was held for an alleged burglary and robbery, he may have thought that he was smart. Now he is in a deeper mess as the police have re-arrested him.
Olajide, an alleged notorious handsets thief and armed robbery who terrorized people of Abeokuta, had escaped from the Divisional Police headquarters, Lanfenwa, Abeokuta.
According to the Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Olufemi Awoyale, a deputy superintendent of police, the suspect was arrested following allegation that he robbed people he carried on a commercial motorcycle.
He said a policeman in mufti had arrested the suspect, adding: "After a search was conducted at Timothy's hide-out, police recovered another motorcycle, engine and spare parts of motorcycles, various handsets as well as a booklet of receipts stolen from one of the shops burgled by the suspect and one of his accomplices."
Olajide, who confessed to the crime, told Daily Sun that he and his friend now at large burgled some shops around Lafenwa and stole various handsets.
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