The Department of Housing

It has been observed that there are too many agencies involved in the government's housing program but too few houses especially for the poor. The government says there is a shortage of 3.5 million housing units nationwide, but this estimate is conservative.

Involved in the housing program are the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, the National Housing Authority, Home Insurance Guarantee Fund, National Home Mortgage and Finance Corp. and the Home Mutual Development Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund. The President chairs the Presidential Commission on Mass Housing, which has a secretariat called the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council.

President Estrada has said that the shelter program is one of the five priorities of his administration. He thinks his program can be boosted if all the housing agencies are placed under one roof. This is fine if the move is meant to cut red tape, trim bureaucratic fat and avoid overlapping of functions. Some of the agencies involved in the housing program can be abolished or merged.

But will the housing program require the creation of a new executive department? That's what the newly formed Economic Coordinating Council has reportedly recommended. President Estrada has endorsed the proposal to create a Department of Housing, whose functions will be similar to those of the scandal-ridden Ministry of Human Settlements headed by then First Lady Imelda Marcos. The ministry was abolished after the EDSA revolt. Why is it being resurrected? Can't the mass housing program be supervised by an existing office such as the Department of Public Works and Highways? Then again, with the current reputation of the DPWH, better not.

The housing agencies can use streamlining. If the proposed Department of Housing will lead to a leaner, more efficient bureaucracy and a coordinated socialized housing program, then by all means, create the new department. But if a department is being created simply to accommodate a housing chief who wants full Cabinet rank, or if it will simply add another layer of bureaucratic fat, this proposal should go straight to the dust heap. With some sectors pushing for new taxes to reduce the budget deficit, taxpayers have no patience for this additional burden.