DHSUD ‘resolute’ to help Filipinos’ dream to own house–del Rosario
THE Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) has reaffirmed its commitment to complete the country’s 20-year housing and urban development strategic plan and road map to close the housing gap.
In a news statement issued on Wednesday, DHSUD Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said the national housing strategic plan would ensure that no substandard housing project would be built.
DHSUD said it is also working toward eliminating illegal transactions on the issuance of licenses and permits.
“DHSUD remains adamant on fulfilling the dreams of 81 percent of Filipinos who wish to have a house of their own,” del Rosario said. He added that shelter is a right of every Filipino family.
At the local level, local government units (LGUS) are land banking; calling for balanced housing implementation; and engaging all housing stakeholders to address the housing backlog.
LGUS, speaking at Habitat for Humanity’s second Bahaynihan on Wednesday, said these efforts have also been implemented due to the disruption caused by the pandemic on the housing sector.
Quezon City Mayor Ma. Josefina “Joy” G. Belmonte said while the pandemic prevented the City from undertaking housing construction last year, Quezon City was busy land banking. However, she did not share how many hectares were secured by the LGU through these arrangements.
This was done through various in-city land acquisition strategies such as donation, expropriation, land swapping, forfeited lands obtained through public auction, usufruct, long-term lease, purchase with donation, and various government to government agreements.
Belmonte also said the LGU launched inhouse financing for residents who would like to procure their own housing units. This, however, only covered Quezon City residents who were already living in the city as of 2015.
She added that the city also introduced rental housing to shelter the underprivileged and homeless in Quezon City. The rental for these units is only P800 per month and the rent is set to increase every three years.
A census conducted by Quezon City showed that 213,978 informal settler families (ISF) currently live in 163,144 houses in September 2019. Nearly half of these families, or 46.9 percent, are living in private properties.
Around 24 percent, or 51,433, are living on government land; 22.8 percent or 48,767 are living on sidewalks or road lots; and 6.3 percent, or 13,435, are living along waterways.
The target of the city is to provide security of land tenure to 10,000 ISFS living in danger areas by June 2022. These housing units will be provided through direct sale covering 5,000 units and the community mortgage program.
Around 1,500 of these ISFS will be providing housing through off-city resettlement areas; 500 in in-city housing projects; and 46 through transition housing.