Creation of Department of Housing and Urban Development On Track

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., Chairman of the Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement, has delivered today, May 15, the sponsorship speech on Senate Bill 3199, which seeks to create the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD).

"This bill will address the issue of shelter as one of the government's priorities to improve the quality of Filipino families. DHUD will provide long-term solutions in designing and managing disaster resilient, competitive, inclusive, and sustainable communities," Senator Marcos said.

Senate Bill 3199 proposes that DHUD will serve as the sole planning and policy-making, regulatory, program coordination, and performance-monitoring entity for housing and urban development. Likewise, DHUD is expected to formulate and implement the necessary reforms, sector policies and program interventions that will mobilize public and private resources and ensure their synchronization.

"There is an urgent need to pass this bill because the present arrangement of our government agencies that are involved in housing and urban and development has inherent institutional weaknesses. The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, the present housing coordinating body, has limited resources and authorities. These are constraints in providing and implementing an overall urban development and housing strategy for the country and in orchestrating a national development framework that will rationalize and manage the process of urbanization," emphasized Senator Marcos.