Republic of the Philippines HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT COORDINATING COUNCIL

MESSAGE
A little more than two decades following the enactment of the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 (RA 7160) and the Urban Development and Housing Act (UDHA) of 1992 (RA 7279), landmark pieces of legislation which clothed local government units (LGUs) with enormous powers to chart their own destinies, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) have taken one bold step forward by forging a new partnership that would once and for all pool their respective resources to jointly address the pressing issues of informal settlements as well as the other equally crucial local housing concerns. The pristine alliance has expectedly gone through some long hurdles but the gains it has initially won have far outweighed the challenges it has encountered along the way. More particularly, the DILG-HUDCC collaborative efforts in Region III have so far resulted in the conduct of Orientation-Seminars on UDHA (RA 7279) and Local Housing Board (LHB) to a total of 99 LGUs, Trainings on the Development of Local Shelter Plan (LSP) benefitting some 37 LGUs, and LSP Writeshops for 25 cities and municipalities, all within the last three quarters of CY 2013. To further assist the LGUs in the planning process and make them more aware of existing laws and programs pertaining to housing and urban development, the DILG-HUDCC tandem in Region III agreed to develop an information material that would answer specific questions that LGU planners, policy and decision-makers would be very much eager to ask and would earnestly like to be enlightened on. The accompanying primer, Q & A on Local Housing Laws, Programs and Organizations, is one such material as it is written down in a reader-friendly question-and-answer format interspersed with visual aids to help the reader better understand its textual contents. We sincerely hope that this guidebook will in no small measure help its intended endusers and that the LGUs concerned will greatly benefit from the valuable pieces of information it contains, particularly insofar as these significant facts and figures would contribute to their crafting of well-researched local shelter plans and aid them immensely in the drawing up of appropriate local housing programs and projects for the benefit of their homeless and underprivileged constituents. Lastly, allow us the liberty of expressing our gratitude, both deep and abiding, to DILG Region III for its unwavering support to our novel partnership and for making the publication of this instructive material a reality. ATTY. ALVIN T. CLARIDADES Director IV, HUDCC Head, PRIACT for Region III