Oro council supports bill creating Department of Human Settlements

The City Council on Monday has expressed its support for the creation of Human Settlements and Urban Development which will act as the sole policy making body for all housing and urban development concerns.

The city legislators passed a resolution to support the House Bill No. 6775 and Senate Bill no. 1578 which is now waiting for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.

“It is now in Malacanang, and we are hoping for its approval. Mas maayo man gyud tong naay nakatutok sa housing programs and guide our urbanization,” Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya said, who sponsored the resolution.

The bill was just approved last October at the Senate.

The proposed department will consolidates all government housing agencies and combines the administrative functions of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the planning and regulatory functions of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB).

Nacaya said the creation of the department in the national level might help local government units streamline their settlement programs.

Here in Cagayan de Oro meanwhile, the city government said it projects a housing backlog of 79,073 households in the next 8 to 10 years and will need at least P28.5 billion to finance this.

The City Housing and Urban Development Department (CHUDD) disclosed that from only 34,898 informal settlers in 2013, the number of informal settlers rose to 51,437 as of August 2018.