Senate OKs bill creating human settlements body

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate yesterday approved a bill creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, which will integrate all housing offices under one agency to speedily address shelter needs of Filipinos.

Senate Bill 1578, principally authored by Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, would streamline bureaucracy and compel shelter agencies to “work together more harmoniously and connect their plans and programs.”

Ejercito, who chairs the Senate committee on urban planning, housing and resettlement, said the measure will address the current bureaucratic and disintegrated housing policies and plans of the government because of the existence of several government housing agencies and offices.

“The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development will expedite the production of housing units, which is a proactive response as we face more than six million housing needs by the end of 2022,” he said.

The proposed department will act as the sole and main planning and policymaking, regulatory, program coordination and performance monitoring entity for all housing and urban development concerns, primarily focusing on the access to and affordability of decent, affordable and secure shelter, he said.

Under the bill, the department would be composed of the Office of the Secretary; the bureaus of Policy Development, Coordination, Monitoring and Evaluation, Environmental, Land Use and Urban Planning and Development; Housing and Real Estate Development Regulation and the Homeowners Association and Community Development.

The bill also proposes the creation of a National Shelter Board to address housing policies and plans as well as to reduce bureaucracy.

The board will be composed of the secretary of the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development; director general of the National Economic and Development Authority; secretaries of the Departments of Finance, Budget and Management,  Public Works and Highways, and the Interior and Local Government; heads of key shelter agencies, specifically the National Housing Authority, Home Guaranty Cooperation, National Home Mortgage Finance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund and Social Housing Finance Corp.

“Currently, the governing boards of the key shelter agencies are operating and meeting separately. The proposed National Shelter Board will rationalize and streamline the governing boards of the different shelter agencies to come up with a more holistic and coherent plan for the housing and urban development sector,” Ejercito said.