HUDCC’s resettlement policy lauded by developers
The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) has adopted the National Resettlement Policy Framework (NRPF) for informal settler families (ISFs).
This policy covers those that will be displaced by the government programs or in response to displacement caused by disasters, calamities, and residence in danger prone areas.
Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) President Marcelino C. Mendoza said they fully support the adoption.
He especially cited the principles of (1) involuntary and off-city resettlement as a last resort, and (2) identification of available lands and its mobilization for socialized housing, inventory of idle government lands and LGU-owned foreclosed properties.
“OSHDP believes that the Framework will go a long way in making a dent on the country’s 6 million housing backlog. Informal settlers account for 1.4 million families, per government estimates,” Mendoza said.
He added that, “also commendable, as this is not presently being done, as resettlement programs are not generally reactive in nature, is the provision that resettlement site locations must be identified, and now being planned according to land use and development plans.”
With this principle, Mendoza said the local governments shall be full partners in the planning, implementation and management of resettlement programs. Government shall also invest in and build the necessary administrative, social, financial and physical infrastructure for resettlement.
He noted that the framework now ties up the loose ends on the identification of responsibilities in the provision of resettlement housing between national housing agencies like the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) on one hand and the local government units (LGUs) on the local level.
“Problems encountered in the delivery of housing units to survivors of typhoon Yolanda, Sendong and Pablo, for example, need not be repeated,” said Mendoza.
The newly formed Socialized Housing Alliance for Roundtable Endeavor (SHARE), a coalition of non-government organizations and developers engaged in socialized housing, lauds the engagement of LGUs as the forefront agency in addressing ISFs’ housing needs.
Affected LGUs (sending and receiving/ host LGUs) shall be involved even in the planning and site selection and eventually provision of basic services like police security, waste disposal and property management of the resettlement area.
This will give LGUs “ownability,” and will empower them to become full partners and participants in the provision for lowcost housing.
OSHDP and SHARE now anticipate the early development of mechanisms to review and correspondingly implement mechanisms to effect the NRPF.
The two organizations commit to assist in the development and institutionalization of a National Resettlement Performance Dashboard, which shall monitor performance of all resettlement programs to complement the Community Transformability Scorecard (CTSC) already adopted by the Department of Local Government as a tool for resettlement and evaluation.