DHSUD called out for completed but unoccupied housing units

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has called on the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) regarding its legal mandate to promote resilient housing and expedite the transfer, relocation, and resettling of the homeless victims of natural and man-made calamities in the city.

Councilor Jose Lorenzo Abellanosa sponsored a resolution regarding the matter which was approved by the council recently.

Abellanosa said that it is the DHSUD's responsibility under Section 5(1) (a) of Republic Act No. 11201 to formulate national housing and urban development policies, strategies, and standards that are consistent with the Philippine Development Plan to promote social and economic welfare, in coordination and in consultation with national and local stakeholders, local government units (LGUs), and other government agencies.

“There are completed but unoccupied housing units that could be given to beneficiaries, especially the underprivileged and homeless,” said Abellanosa.

The councilor said the city has recorded more than a hundred fire incidents in the first half of the year 2022, with almost half a billion worth of damages to property, leaving many residents homeless.

He said that the climate change has caused typhoons and heavy rainfall that hit the country to be more intense, with studies made by PAG-ASA showing that there has been a slight increase in the number of typhoons in the Visayas during the years 1971 to 2000 as compared with the 1951 to 1980 and 1960 to 1990 periods.

He added that the onslaught of Typhoon Odette last year left the homes of the underprivileged and the informal settlers heavily damaged or destroyed resulting in their being homeless.

“There is a need to ensure that the housing units provided by DHSUD are resilient to these calamities in order for the City's urban poor and homeless to be assured of a safe and secure relocation site,” said Abellanosa.

“There is a need for the DHSUD to facilitate and expedite the transfer and relocation of these homeless families so that they will be spared of the inimical and debilitating effects of natural or man-made calamities,” he said.

Section 9, Article I of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that the State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.

Further, Section 9, Article XIII of the Constitution, provides that the State shall ensure that underprivileged and homeless citizens have access to an adequate, safe, secure, habitable, sustainable, resilient, and affordable home.

Section 4 of Republic Act No. 11201 created the DHSUD to act as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement, and urban development. — JMD (FREEMAN)