Gov’t urged to speed up housing policy-making body

The country’s mass housing developers have urged the government to fast-track the unification of housing agencies and the immediate formation of a single policy-making body that will govern this crucial sector.

The Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP) and the Socialized Housing Alliance Roundtable Endeavor (SHARE) lauded the issuance of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for a new law consolidating key housing agencies into a new unit called Department of Human Settlements and Urban development (DHSUD).

DHSUD is essentially a consolidation of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) as provided for by Republic Act No. 11201, which mandated the creation of this new department.

HUDCC Chair Eduardo del Rosario, who became the first secretary of the new department, and HLURB Commissioner Lloyd Christopher Lao shepherded the drafting of the IRR.

OSHDP and SHARE now strongly urge the DHSUD and the Department of Budget and Management to fast-track the transition process as provided by the IRR to realize the objectives envisioned in the creation of the department, including the need to address the country’s 6.5 million housing backlog.

SHARE president Marcelino Mendoza urged the immediate constitution of the National Human Settlements Board (NHSB), which is envisioned to act as the single policy-making body. NHSB will provide overall policy directions and perform program development to the housing sector.

“The new law provides for the department to develop idle government lands, and also manage and oversee emergency post-disaster or post-conflict shelter recovery or climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction provision and intervention. All of these functions will entail creation of new programs and addition of new personnel and resources specifically in the areas of public housing and human settlements and in the fields of policy formulation and development, coordination and monitoring,” Mendoza said.

The mass housing developers said the new IRR would pave the way for President Duterte’s twin directives during his recent State of the Nation address of bringing the government closer to the people and giving more teeth to the Ease of Doing Business Law.

At present, stakeholders from provinces in different regions have to travel long distance to reach multiregional centers and have their needs serviced by the government. With the new department, regional offices are envisioned to be established, additional positions will be created and the existing budget appropriations augmented, subject to the approval of the DBM.

OSHDP president Jefferson Bongat welcomed the identification of regional offices that will perform the core function of setting up and managing the regional housing one-stop processing centers. He cited the continuing decline in the issuance of licenses to sell projects and the study of the Center for Housing and Independent Research Synergies (CHAIRS) that a developer has to go through 27 offices, secure 78 permits and 146 signatures and submit a total of 373 documents.

“The immediate funding by the DBM of these regional offices requirements will arrest the decline in production,” Bongat added.