DHSUD, urban poor tackle housing issues

The Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development or DHSUD and the Urban Poor Action Committee have activated a technical working group to harmonize efforts in providing decent housing to more Filipinos, particularly the underprivileged.

"The creation of this TWG was in response to the clamor of urban poor groups," DHSUD Secretary Jose Rizalino Acuzar said. "It will primarily focus on issues that have remained unresolved for decades now."

He added: "I can see complexities in the concerns, but by uniting and helping each other, we can find ways to appropriately address gaps in the sector."

The TWG, with member representatives from DHSUD, UPAC, the National Housing Authority, and the Social Housing Finance Corporation, aims to craft measures to immediately implement programs that will make public housing more accessible to the underserviced sectors, particularly the urban poor.

"This is proof that the Marcos administration and the DHSUD are listening to all stakeholders, and we are prioritizing our poor countrymen," Acuzar explained.

Members of urban poor groups consist of informal settler families, residents living near danger zones, especially river banks and coastal areas, and beneficiaries of government housing programs.

During its first meeting on Thursday, led by Assistant Secretary Daryll Bryan Villanueva, the discussion identified each group's functions to resolve various housing resettlement concerns effectively.

The TWG also tackled UPAC's People's Plan, which proposes a more participative and solution-based housing plan involving the beneficiaries from planning to program sustainability plans.