RA 7279 and RA 10884: the Urban Development and Housing Act and balanced housing

Republic Act No. 7279 of 1992 is the Urban Development and Housing Act, often shortened to UDHA. It sets the national program for housing in cities and growing towns, defines socialized housing, says who may receive it, requires developers of ordinary subdivisions and condominiums to contribute to it, and puts conditions on evictions and demolitions. Republic Act No. 10884 of 2016, the Balanced Housing Development Program Amendments, rewrote three of its sections.

This guide is read from both laws as published, kept in this site’s records with their sources. Fines are not printed, because this site carries no peso figures.

What it covers

Point	What the law says	Where
Coverage	All lands in urban and urbanizable areas, including areas for priority development, zonal improvement sites, slum improvement and resettlement sites, and other areas the local government identifies as suitable for socialized housing	RA 7279, Section 4
Urban areas	All cities regardless of population density, and municipalities with at least 500 persons per square kilometre	Section 3(v)
Urbanizable areas	Sites with marked potential of becoming urban within five years	Section 3(w)
Socialized housing	Housing programs and projects covering houses and lots or homelots only, or residential condominium units, by government or the private sector, for underprivileged and homeless citizens, including sites and services, long-term financing and liberalized interest terms	Section 3(r), as redefined by RA 10884 Section 2(a), which added condominium units
Underprivileged and homeless citizens	Individuals or families in urban and urbanizable areas whose household income is within the poverty threshold set by NEDA and who do not own housing; including those in makeshift dwellings without security of tenure	Section 3(t)

Who qualifies for socialized housing

Section 16 sets four conditions. A beneficiary must be a Filipino citizen; must be underprivileged and homeless as Section 3 defines it; must not own any real property, urban or rural; and must not be a professional squatter or a member of a squatting syndicate.

Balanced housing: what developers owe

Section 18, as rewritten by RA 10884, is the part that reaches ordinary subdivision and condominium projects.

Point	What the law says	Where
Subdivision projects	Develop an area for socialized housing equal to at least 15 percent, counted on the total subdivision area or the total subdivision project cost	Section 18, as amended by RA 10884 Section 2(b)
Condominium projects	At least 5 percent, counted on the condominium area or the project cost	Same
Area or cost	At the developer’s option	Same
Exempt	Proposed socialized subdivision and socialized condominium projects themselves	Same
Ways to comply	Socialized housing in a new settlement; a joint venture with a local government unit, a housing agency, another private developer or an accredited NGO; or taking part in a new Community Mortgage Program project	Same
A failed joint venture	The main project’s owner or developer is solidarily liable, to the extent of the balanced housing requirement, if the partner fails to complete the project	Same
Price ceilings	Set separately for socialized subdivision and socialized condominium projects by HUDCC and NEDA, and reviewed every two years	Same
Reporting	HLURB reports compliance to Congress every year	Same

Section 20, also rewritten by RA 10884, lists incentives for private developers of socialized housing: simpler accreditation, one-stop offices that issue clearances and permits within 90 days of a complete submission, simpler financing, and exemptions from several taxes on the project, available on a socialized housing certification with a lien annotated on the land’s title.

HLURB’s functions here passed to DHSUD and the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission under RA 11201. The RA 11201 guide explains which office now handles what, including disputes over Section 18.

Evictions and demolitions

Section 28 says eviction and demolition “shall be discouraged”, and allows them only when people occupy danger areas such as esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, sidewalks, roads, parks and playgrounds; when a funded government infrastructure project is about to start; or under a court order.

Where the people affected are underprivileged and homeless, the law makes eight things mandatory:

1. Notice at least 30 days before the eviction or demolition.
2. Adequate consultation on resettlement with the families’ representatives and the receiving community.
3. Local government officials or their representatives present.
4. Everyone taking part in the demolition properly identified.
5. Only during regular office hours, Monday to Friday, in good weather, unless the families agree otherwise.
6. No heavy equipment, except on permanent concrete structures.
7. Police in proper uniform at the front line, observing proper disturbance control.
8. Adequate relocation, temporary or permanent. Under a court order, relocation by the local government and the National Housing Authority within 45 days of notice of final judgment; if relocation is not possible in that time, the local government gives financial assistance equal to the prevailing minimum daily wage multiplied by 60 days.

Section 30 makes it unlawful to build any structure in the danger areas and public places listed in Section 29, and makes the barangay, city or municipal government responsible for preventing illegal dwellings in its area.

Why it matters for a subdivision plan

A developer planning an ordinary subdivision plans the balanced housing share from the start, whether on the same land, in a new settlement or through a joint venture, because the project cannot meet Section 18 after the fact. A socialized housing project in turn is built to the BP 220 standards, which the BP 220 guide sets out, and a buyer of any subdivision lot has the rights the PD 957 guide explains.

Our subdivision and housing development planning service lays out projects with these rules in mind.