THE Senate on Monday approved the landmark measure creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) to consolidate all housing agencies under one body.
The senators passed on third and final reading Senate Bill 1578 to streamline bureaucracy and compel shelter agencies to “work together more harmoniously and connect their plans and programs.”
Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement and sponsor of the bill said that for the last 30 years, the country has “been deprived of a rational and systematic way of addressing the nation’s housing needs.”
The senator said the country is facing more than two million housing needs this year. The figure is projected to balloon to 6,571,387 by the end of 2022.
“We continue to be challenged with problems of overcrowding, restrictions in unlocking land for human settlements, increasing number of homeless people and multiplying families living in slums, riverbanks and danger zones,” Ejercito said.
“What we need is one housing department with one board working towards one direction…creating the roadmap for housing and urban development, leading its implementation, setting the general direction for everyone and able to follow through each and every project with clear functions, policies, budget and financing,” he said.
He said the creation of the DHSUD would combine the administrative functions of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the planning and regulatory functions of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
The proposed housing department would be responsible for all housing and urban concerns, including planning, policy making, regulations, program coordination and performance monitoring.
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.
It 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 DHSUD, the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, the secretaries of the Departments of Finance, Budget and Management, Public Works and Highways, Department of the Interior and Local Government, the heads of the key shelter agencies, specifically the National Housing Authority, Home Guaranty Cooperation, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, Home Development Mutual Fund and the Social Housing Finance Corporation.
“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 moare holistic and coherent plan for the housing and urban development sector,” Ejercito said.
https://www.manilatimes.net/senate-oks-human-settlements-dept/449778/
