DHSUD, NGOs vow to push more inclusive housing program 

In compliance to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to pursue people-centered programs, the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) on Monday engaged various stakeholders, including non-government organizations (NGOs), for more public participation to government housing program and wider range of beneficiaries.

DHSUD Secretary Jose Ramon P. Aliling hosted a dialogue with Dr. Nathaniel von Einsiedel, former Metro Manila Commissioner for Planning and former Regional Director for Asia Pacific, UN-Habitat Urban Management Programme; Dr. Mary Racelis, former Director, Ateneo Institute of Philippine Culture; Ms. Ana Oliveros, of LinkBuild; Dr. Anna Marie Karaos, consultant on Urban Poverty and Governance of JJ Carroll Institute of Church and Social Issues; Mr. Vince Eugenio, Joly Homes Foundation, and Ms. Maricel Genzola, Executive Director, Federation for the Development of the Urban Poor (FDUP).

The discussion tackled, among others, the modalities being introduced by Secretary Aliling to the expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PHX) Program and the promotion of people-centric housing programs.

“Yan po mismo ang directive ni President Marcos Jr.—for us to be more inclusive and people-centric, to cover the mandated beneficiaries of government housing programs which are the poorest of the poor and those in the lower income deciles,” Secretary Aliling said.

“That is why we have expanded the 4PH to include all feasible modalities like rental housing, horizontal developments and now under study — incremental housing. We will continue to expand to other modalities to expand our beneficiaries,” he added.

The group was elated over the readiness of the current DHSUD leadership to stakeholders’ inputs, especially NGOs, as they raised additional schemes that can be considered under 4PHX, like the community mortgage program (CMP) and high density housing (HDH), wherein there are people’s participation from project conceptualization to execution. They also mentioned the consideration for people’s plans from various organizations, particularly the urban poor.

Secretary Aliling, upon his assumption last May 26, ordered the expansion of 4PH to include horizontal developments or subdivision-like housing projects and rental housing. Immediately, three private developers committed more than 50,000 units under horizontal 4PHX while the University of the Philippines-Diliman expressed readiness to collaborate with DHSUD in pursuit of a rental housing scheme.

The new housing czar has also ordered the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) to revive its CMP and the National Housing Authority (NHA) to formulate and expand their pro-poor housing programs for the benefit of the poorest of the poor and those in the lower-income bracket.

“While we are already pursuing those modalities, rest assured that DHSUD welcomes inputs from all stakeholders for the betterment of our programs, especially those that call for active participation from our beneficiaries from the project conceptualization up to execution,” Secretary Aliling said.