National Housing Authority resettlement site for informal settlers, Palayan City, Nueva Ecija (Photo courtesy of DHSUD)
MANILA – A transition committee will assure continuity of the 20-year housing and urban development strategic plan and roadmap and will work with the next administration.
The multi-agency National Human Settlements Board approved the 20-year roadmap last year, officially called the National Housing and Urban Development Sector Plan (NHUDSP).
The 20-year plan envisions better, greener and smarter human settlements and urban systems with banner projects aiming to create spaces, transform spaces into communities, make communities accessible and affordable, and empowering communities.
It also focuses on the critical groups who are in immediate need of housing, such as informal settler families.
"We already have created a transition committee once the new administration will designate new housing officials. Actually, we are now ready to transition. We can pass over all the projects and programs that we are doing and if they are amenable to continue with our programs and projects, it is now ready," Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said in a press conference at the Quezon City central office on Tuesday.
Del Rosario said the roadmap provides continuity for the next three administrations.
"Before we crafted this strategic plan, we consulted everybody, all stakeholders of the sector -- from housing developers, academe, and even the urban poor associations. They are all included in the crafting of this cycle plan, kaya (so) we can say that the product of this is a combination of all sectors to ensure that we can have a strategic roadmap that would be adaptable to the needs of the people," del Rosario said.
He said the roadmap also involves short, medium, and long-term programs and projects.
During Monday’s kickoff ceremony for DHSUD’s third-year anniversary, del Rosario said from 2016 to 2021, the housing sector produced and financed more than 1.07 million housing units, the highest achievement by any administration in nearly 50 years.
“We consider shelter as a right of every Filipino family. We are not only building housing units but we are building sustainable communities. Never that you ever see a sub-standard housing unit under the Duterte administration. We set standards of best quality housing units,” he said. (PNA)
