THE creation of a Department of Housing will help properly distribute workload for different housing-related sectors of the government, said Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board Southern Mindanao Region (HLURB-SMR) official.
“I am for that. We are less than a department but higher than a bureau. We are currently handling two regions and yet we only have about 25 employees here,” said HLURB-SMR regional director attorney Miguel Palma Gil.
He said it is high time that a Department of Housing be created already. When asked how it would affect the service that HLURB already provides, he said a department will create better manpower including a better quality of workload. In turn, this will result in an improved and faster service. Housing budget will also increase with the creation of a department, he said.
Earlier, the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Association, Inc. (Creba) had expressed their support towards creation of a housing department stating that it will better address the concern of the housing sector of the Philippines.
“What we would like the department to focus on are on four major aspects that are now spread out being implemented independently by several shelter agencies, some of them even Government Owned and Controlled (GOCCs). So we would like to integrate all of these housing functions under a department of housing to make the entire process of housing, real estate development, and planning more systematic,” said Creba executive director Sharmin Albacete.
House Bill 6194 or the Department of Housing and Urban Development Bill has the objective of merging together the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) and HLURB.