5 Towards A Full-fledged Housing and Urban Development Department

CREBA proposes a bill seeking the creation of a fullfledged Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD).

CREBA believes that the DHUD has been, still is, and always will be, a pressing concern that the legislature must address to ensure that the critical housing problem is accorded the attention it deserves at the highest level of government.

Section 9, Art. XIII of the 1987 Constitution clearly underscores the enormous and wide-ranging importance of housing and urban development in raising the quality of life of people; and the inevitability of publicprivate partnership to attain social improvement goals. It therefore mandates government to accord housing fundamental focus and, in the process, provide communities all needed support services to help citizens thrive as members of functional social units.

HUDCC reported to Congress that current housing backlog stands at about 5.5 million units as of 2014. Yet, former NEDA chief Cielito Habito in an ADB study observes that Philippine government spending for housing has been no more than 1 percent of its total budget making it amongst the lowest in Asia.

Although CREBA estimates that this figure may even be understated, it foresees that 500,000 units a year must be built within the next 20 years if we are to dramatically address, if not totally wipe out, the huge housing problem.

The success, however, of any government housing program depends on a wellplanned and holistic consideration of all factors that should come into play in ensuring effective and sustained program implementation.

Since shelter is one of the basic needs of man, provision of the same should enjoy a priority at least equal to tourism and other government services, and should be similarly addressed by a full-fledged Department rather than just a mere Coordinating Council.

This is why CREBA actively supports the passage of a bill creating a Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD) which has been pending in the legislative mill for more than two decades.

The DHUD must be so created as the highest national policy-making body empow- ered to address housing in its totality by encompassing 4 major aspects: housing finance, production, regulation and administration.

No new funding is necessary. The existing appropriation for HUDCC, including personnel and assets, is transferred to the DHUD, creating a simply-structured, lean and mean Department.

What is of utmost importance is to cloth the Department with powers sufficient to ensure (1) that the KSA’s, LGU’s and the private sector operate harmoniously where the Housing Secretary possesses adequate administrative and supervisory powers over KSA’s and their governing boards; (2) that housing and urban development efforts are accorded high priority; and (3) that funding support allocated to housing by existing laws are allotted and used judiciously.

With the objective of raising housing production to the highest possible level to match the shortage and compounding annual demand, the proposed Act will provide a tremendous boost to the economy in terms of employment and income opportunities for millions, catalyzing business activi- ties for at least 68 other industries, attracting investments and building new economic centers, and generating billions in government revenues from taxes.

We hope that our honorable lawmakers can finally steer the passage of the DHUD bill. Otherwise, this vital and urgent piece of legislation will become no more than a noble concept on paper. Let us not let it die yet again.