President Duterte signed on Feb. 14 Republic Act No. 11201, which creates the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) by merging the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB). It repealed Executive Orders No. 90 s. 1986 and No. 648 s. 1981.
The new department is now “the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement and urban development.”
The law defines human settlements to “comprise of a) physical components of shelter and infrastructure; and b) services to which the physical elements provide support, such as community services which include education, health, culture, welfare, recreation and nutrition.”
Urban development meanwhile “refers to the process of occupation and use of land or space for activities such as residential, industrial, commercial and the like or their combinations, necessary to carry out the functions of urban living.”
Section 4 further states: “It 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 affordability of basic needs.”
DHSUD shall have powers and functions on four key areas: policy development, coordination, monitoring and evaluation; environmental land use and urban planning and development; housing and real estate regulation; and homeowners association and community development.
Specified in its policy development function is the formulation of a national housing and urban development policies, strategies and standards; housing finance and production policies; housing policies and programs; and a framework for resilient housing and human settlements.
The HLURB is to be reconstituted into an adjudicatory body called Human Settlements Adjudication Commission (HSAC) and shall be attached to the Department for policy, planning and program coordination only.
The law also creates a National Human Settlements Board which shall exercise the powers and functions related to policy and program development of the department’s attached agencies.
The Department shall have four attached corporations namely the National Housing Authority (NHA), National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMFC), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) and Social Housing Finance Corp. (SHFC).
The Department is also tasked to establish Housing One-Stop Processing Centers to centralize the processing of housing-related permits, clearances and licenses.
The Department is to identify government lands suitable for housing and rural development within 180 days from the effectivity of the law. This is to be done jointly with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Land Registration Authority (LRA).
The Act shall take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.
Full text can be read at the Official Gazette Website at www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2019/02/14/republic-act-no-11211/
Compiled by: Inquirer Research, Center for Housing and Independent Research Synergies (CHAIRS), Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP)