The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is aiming to forge agreements with 50 more local government units (LGUs) to provide more shelter units for more Filipinos nationwide.
In a news statement issued on Tuesday, DHSUD Secretary Eduardo del Rosario said the agency signed two housing agreements with two Nueva Ecija municipalities on Monday. The memorandum of agreement (MOA) aims to provide mass housing for residents.
The MOA with the municipality of Talavera will provide homes for informal settlers, while the MOA with the municipality of San Leonardo provides grant funding for land development using the incentivized compliance of developers to the balanced housing program for San Leonardo’s BALAI-certified socialized housing project.
“Through our small contribution, we aim to realize our housing guideline ‘shelter is a right of every Filipino family’ with our partnership with LGUs,” Del Rosario said. “We would like to scale up. We hope that by the end of the year, we will have 50 more or so MOAs with other LGUs.”
Del Rosario noted that of all the LGUs that DHSUD had forged a partnership, it was only Talavera that had a Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) and Local Shelter Plan (LSP).
He said this is the most important document a locality must comply with to implement an optimized utilization of their lots.
Cementing stronger partnerships with LGUs is one of DHSUD’s key strategies this year. Del Rosario has repeatedly stressed the need for better coordination with LGUs for the government’s national housing program to become a success.
“This pact is part of DHSUD’s mandate in fulfilling the dream of most Filipinos in having a house of their own, especially those living in danger zones,” Del Rosario said.
Earlier, Del Rosario reaffirmed the DHSUD’s commitment to complete the country’s 20-year housing and urban development strategic plan and road map to close the housing gap.
Del Rosario said the national housing strategic plan would ensure that no substandard housing project would be built.
DHSUD said it is also working to eliminate illegal transactions on the issuance of licenses and permits.
At the local level, LGUs are land banking; calling for balanced housing implementation; and engaging all housing stakeholders to address the housing backlog.
LGUs said these efforts have also been implemented due to the disruption caused by the pandemic on the housing sector.
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