VERTICAL HOUSING POLICY

VERTICAL HOUSING POLICY

My dear countrymen, I fully support the government’s policy to promote vertical housing, instead of single-detached horizontal housing. It is a good idea whose time has come, and I believe that this policy is going to be good for our country in the long run. It does not take a genius to realize that the demand for housing is increasing and will continue to increase, but our land area for housing development is not increasing.

It also does not take a genius to realize that we could not continue to convert farmlands into housing project sites, otherwise we may have roofs over our heads, but will not have food over our tables. On that note, I wonder if there is any coordination between the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) to be able to control the seemingly runaway conversion of agricultural lands? And is it not that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) should also have a say about these conversions?

Having worked for the defunct Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS) and having learned a lot from the late MHS Undersecretary Joly Benetiz, I say that I know a thing or two about housing development, even if my work at MHS was focused more on livelihood development and the marketing of livelihood products at that time. Although the MHS built a record number of single-detached units at that time, I still say that DHSUD is in the right direction to build vertical housing this time.

By copy of this letter, I am requesting DHSUD Secretary Gerry Acuzar to try his best to make sure that all future vertical housing projects not only “future ready”, but also “environment friendly” as well. I am sure that these two features are nothing new to Secretary Acuzar, since he is an experienced builder himself, with exceptional projects to his name. Going by my own definition of “future ready”, I wish that Acuzar could make sure that these buildings should have high speed internet, clean potable water (no need to buy filtered water), solar energy backup and diesel generator backup. By “environment friendly”, I mean having Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs), Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), composting facilities and urban gardens with native trees all around.

I hope it is not asking too much, but it would be good if these buildings could already have their own electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and drone landing pads (DLPs). Aside from that, rainwater collection systems would also be good, aside from water recycling and water filtration systems. Optionally, some buildings could use biogas production for heating their grounds and maybe for street lighting.

For a building to have fast and stable internet, it needs fiber optic cables going up vertically and horizontally. For purposes of redundancy, it would be good to make provisions for a satellite dish at the top. There may be a need to do a practical layout at the rooftop, to accommodate the solar panels, the satellite dishes and the DLPs. Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-23-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com

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