President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law the bill creating the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development.

Republic Act No. 11201, which Duterte inked on February 14, consolidates the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board.

"The Department shall act as the primary national government entity responsible for the management of housing, human settlement and urban development. It shall be the sole and main planning and policy-making, regulatory, program coordination, and performance monitoring entity for all housing, human settlement and urban development concerns, primarily focusing on the access to and the affordability of basic human needs," the law read.

The DHSUD is also tasked to develop and adopt a national strategy to immediately address the provision of adequate and affordable housing to all Filipinos and shall ensure the alignment of the policies, programs, and projects of all its attached agencies to facilitate the achievement of this objective.

The new department has the powers and functions on policy development, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation; environmental, land use and urban planning and development; housing and real estate development regulation; and homeowners association and community and community development.

Under the new department, the bureaus to be established include the Environmental, Land Use and Urban Planning; Housing and Real Estate Development Regulation; and Homeowners Association and Community Development. As may be necessary, a regional office may be established in the administrative regions of the country.

The law also provided that the HLURB is reconstituted and will be known as the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission.

The new department shall exercise administrative supervision over the National Housing Authority, National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, Home Development Mutual Fund, and Social Housing Finance Corporation.

The existing employees of HUDCC and HLURB shall enjoy the security of tenure and shall be absorbed by the new department in accordance with their staffing patterns and the selection process as prescribed under RA 6656, otherwise known as the Government Reorganization Law."

The law also gives the employees the option to be separated from service or to retire if qualified.

The Act shall take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation. Celerina Monte/DMS