DHSUD eyes in-city relocation for ISFs 

The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) is endeavoring to situate informal settler families (ISFs) on in-city housing sites where their sources of livelihood are found.

Thus, said DHSUD Secretary Rizalino Acuzar during a chanced interview with the media after the groundbreaking of a housing project at the Harmony Hills Terraces in Batasan Hills, Quezon City on Thursday.

The Secretary said that the Department is pushing to keep ISFs already living and working in cities to remain in close proximity to their livelihood as he found that previous public housing projects had been unsuccessful as families refuse to relocate away from cities.

“Hindi na magiging problema ang paglilipat sa ISFs dahil onsite, in-city na ang housing projects, batay rin sa plano ng Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,” Secretary Acuzar said, referring to the Pambansang Pabahay Para Sa Pilipino: Zero ISF Program for 2028.

Through this program, the DHSUD aims to build one million housing units per year or a total of six million housing units within the six years of the Marcos administration.

Secretary Acuzar, however, clarified that the focus of the housing projects are not merely ISFs, but also the working force, saying: “Kahit hindi ISF…meron din sila, kailangan lamang nilang pumunta sa LGU para mag-apply para sa pabahay ng gobyerno.”

He reiterated that the LGUs play a massive role in the program as the housing projects will be “turned over sa LGU; sila ang magme-maintain sa lahat ng units kaya naman lahat ito ay kapwa LGU projects rin.”

The housing czar estimated that each housing project to be launched in the country under the priority housing program would take “a year and a half” to be fully constructed, with the quality at par with township projects of private developers.

“We are developing townships…kung ano nakikita ninyo sa mga private development, ganun din ang sa government,” Secretary Acuzar stressed.

Data showed that the country’s housing backlog is pegged at more than 6.5 million units, 3.7 million of which are ISFs. Of the number of ISFs, 500,000 are situated in the National Capital Region, particularly along hazardous areas.