DHSUD chief Aliling pushes inclusive housing initiatives with strong private sector backing

In strict compliance with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s directive to recalibrate the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino (4PH) Program, Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) Secretary Jose Ramon P. Aliling has swiftly issued key directives that have gained strong support from housing and real estate stakeholders.

Within his first two weeks in office, Secretary Aliling ordered the inclusion of horizontal developments — subdivision-like housing projects — into the flagship 4PH program, thereby widening the scope to cover more beneficiaries, especially those from the lower-income bracket and the poorest of the poor.

This decisive move prompted immediate commitments from three private developers to provide over 50,000 horizontal housing units to the expanded 4PH, just days after Aliling’s appointment as DHSUD chief on 26 May.

Further demonstrating his consultative approach, Secretary Aliling sought recommendations from the country’s four major developers’ groups — the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA), National Real Estate Association (NREA), Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP), and the Subdivision and Housing Developers Association (SHDA) — on ways to enhance the government’s housing program. These recommendations are now under review by DHSUD.

Aliling also directed a feasibility study on including rental housing in the expanded 4PH, personally leading DHSUD officials in talks with University of the Philippines officials, including UP President Angelo Jimenez, for a potential pilot project on UP campuses. The UP management welcomed this initiative.

“President Marcos Jr.’s directive is clear — the new 4PH must prioritize the poorest of the poor, those in the lower-income deciles. That is exactly what we are doing by expanding the program across all modalities that benefit the disadvantaged,” Secretary Aliling said.

He stressed the program must be inclusive: “We opened the program to various housing modalities to provide more Filipinos with decent, safe, and affordable homes — enabling dignified and productive lives.”

Aliling also instructed the National Housing Authority to refocus programs to benefit the poorest of the poor and called on the Social Housing Finance Corporation to revive its community mortgage program for informal settler families.

To protect homebuyers, the Secretary issued Department Circular No. 2025-008, demanding the swift resolution of complaints against developers and ordering the strengthening of DHSUD’s regulatory functions over homeowners associations and private developers.

Anchoring all his directives on a “No Corruption Policy,” Secretary Aliling called on all DHSUD officials and employees to uphold the highest standards of integrity and service.