MANILA - The House of Representatives on Tuesday adopted a resolution declaring a housing crisis in the country, and urged the executive department to mobilize resources to accelerate housing production and provide adequate housing to underserved families.

In House Resolution 1677, the chamber exhorted the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and other concerned agencies “to immediately undertake the inventory of idle government lands and fast track the development and disposition of these properties for socialized housing, in partnership with the private sector.”

House members also called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Agriculture, Land Registration Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and local government units to provide the information on government lands available or accessible to the DHSUD.

The chamber urged the Land Management Bureau (LMB) to assist in the identification of idle lands, particularly of public lands that will need to be declared as alienable and disposable.

In 2018, government data showed that about 4.5 million people were homeless or living in informal settlements in the Philippines, of whom 3 million were in Metro Manila.

• With community loans, Manila slum dwellers build homes

Officials and experts believe informal settlers have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced businesses to shut down, prompting layoffs and income loss.

• Pandemic 'clearly' worsened PH poverty in 2020: ADB official

Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country's population in 2020 was at 109 million. According to UN data, this is equivalent to 1.41% of the total world population.

— With a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more in iWantv or TFC.tv