Duterte admin keen on creating a Department of Housing

The Duterte administration is keen on creating a Department of Housing to focus on providing shelter for the informal sector, a Cabinet official said Wednesday.

"In a Cabinet meeting, there was a recent decision to create a Department of Housing," Budget Secretary Benjamin M. Diokno told a Senate hearing in Pasay City.

Diokno said he is now working with the Office of the Vice President on getting the job done.

"We are working directly with the Office of the Vice President to work on how to do this," he said.

Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo,  who was appointed by President Duterte as chief of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) in July, has called for the creation of a Department of Housing.

This will be one of the measures they will push in the next Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting, Diokno said.

"I'm quite sure that this administration will be supportive," he said.

Several bills have been filed before the Congress, seeking the creation of a Housing Department, but none have been passed into law.

"It will be good if that could be passed this time," Senator Loren Legarda said. — VDS, GMA News