A Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council priority measure seeking to address the basic housing needs and requirements of the Filipino family through the creation of a new housing department has been approved on second reading in the House of Representatives.
Voting through viva voce, lawmakers approved the passage of the House Bill (HB) 6775, or An Act Creating the Department of Human Settles and Urban Development (DHUD), late Wednesday.
House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental said the bill would address the worsening housing problem in the country.
The lower chamber is expected to approve the bill next week.
The measure aims to establish an efficient, effective, comprehensive and integrated national and local housing and urban development program.
It also seeks to rationalize, and coordinate the functions and powers of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC), Home Guaranty Corp.(HGC), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) and the National Housing Authority (NHA).
The bill calls for the establishment of the DHUD by merging the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
According to Benitez, the current Republic Act 7279, or the Urban Development Housing Act, has apparently overlooked the enormous demands in the housing sector.
“Neither did Executive Order 9, which created a coordinating body for shelter agencies of the government, address the housing backlog that stood at 3 million in 1992,” he said.
The measure said the department shall be headed by a secretary and assisted by four undersecretaries and four assistant secretaries to be appointed by the President.
The bill added functions of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board shall be transferred to the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC) that will be created under this Act.
It also said the NHA, HGC, NHMFC, HDMF, Social Housing Finance Corp. and HSAC are hereby attached to the housing department for policy and program coordination, monitoring and evaluation. All these agencies shall continue to function according to existing laws and their respective charters.
Under HB 6775, the agency will not only provide for housing but will also “focus on building communities and habitats in both rural and urban areas.”
The lawmaker said the department shall act as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement and urban development.
“It will not only deal with the physical element of housing but likewise provide the necessary link to community services and components, such as education, health, culture, welfare, recreation, food and nutrition,” Benitez said.
He added the agency shall be the sole and main planning and policy-making, regulatory, program coordination and performance-monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement and urban-development concerns, primarily focusing on the access to and the affordability of basic human needs.
Benitez said the new department shall develop and adopt a national strategy to immediately address the provision of adequate and affordable housing to all Filipinos, and shall ensure alignment of all the policies, programs and projects of all its attached agencies to facilitate the achievement of this objective.
Earlier, the solon said the housing needs of Filipinos could balloon to 6.8 million before President Duterte’s term ends on June 30, 2022.
He added there will be an estimated 774,441 housing needs in 2018; 788,773 in 2019; 803,405 in 2020; 818,363 in 2021 and 833,619 in 2022.
Voting through viva voce, lawmakers approved the passage of the House Bill (HB) 6775, or An Act Creating the Department of Human Settles and Urban Development (DHUD), late Wednesday.
House Committee on Housing and Urban Development Chairman Rep. Alfredo B. Benitez of the Third District of Negros Occidental said the bill would address the worsening housing problem in the country.
The lower chamber is expected to approve the bill next week.
The measure aims to establish an efficient, effective, comprehensive and integrated national and local housing and urban development program.
It also seeks to rationalize, and coordinate the functions and powers of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC), Home Guaranty Corp.(HGC), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) and the National Housing Authority (NHA).
The bill calls for the establishment of the DHUD by merging the Housing Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.
According to Benitez, the current Republic Act 7279, or the Urban Development Housing Act, has apparently overlooked the enormous demands in the housing sector.
“Neither did Executive Order 9, which created a coordinating body for shelter agencies of the government, address the housing backlog that stood at 3 million in 1992,” he said.
The measure said the department shall be headed by a secretary and assisted by four undersecretaries and four assistant secretaries to be appointed by the President.
The bill added functions of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board shall be transferred to the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC) that will be created under this Act.
It also said the NHA, HGC, NHMFC, HDMF, Social Housing Finance Corp. and HSAC are hereby attached to the housing department for policy and program coordination, monitoring and evaluation. All these agencies shall continue to function according to existing laws and their respective charters.
Under HB 6775, the agency will not only provide for housing but will also “focus on building communities and habitats in both rural and urban areas.”
The lawmaker said the department shall act as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement and urban development.
“It will not only deal with the physical element of housing but likewise provide the necessary link to community services and components, such as education, health, culture, welfare, recreation, food and nutrition,” Benitez said.
He added the agency shall be the sole and main planning and policy-making, regulatory, program coordination and performance-monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement and urban-development concerns, primarily focusing on the access to and the affordability of basic human needs.
Benitez said the new department shall develop and adopt a national strategy to immediately address the provision of adequate and affordable housing to all Filipinos, and shall ensure alignment of all the policies, programs and projects of all its attached agencies to facilitate the achievement of this objective.
Earlier, the solon said the housing needs of Filipinos could balloon to 6.8 million before President Duterte’s term ends on June 30, 2022.
He added there will be an estimated 774,441 housing needs in 2018; 788,773 in 2019; 803,405 in 2020; 818,363 in 2021 and 833,619 in 2022.
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