Malabon City Administrator Dr. Alexander Rosete shared the city's best practices in implementing healthy housing initiatives during the Housing Studies Association (HSA) Annual Conference 2024 in Manchester, United Kingdom, on Tuesday, April 16. 

Rosete was one of the speakers at an in-person workshop held at the Crowne Plaza Royal Victoria Sheffield, United Kingdom.

The HSA Annual Conference 2024 which carried the theme “Healthy Homes, Healthy Lives: Exploring the Intersections of Health and Housing” provided a platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in exploring the complex links between housing and health.

It shared innovative methods for promoting healthy housing and developing strategies to address housing-related health differences.

Rosete was the only Filipino presenter in the conference. He currently heads the city’s Housing and Urban Development Department (CHUDD) and was the director and chief administrative officer of the Manila Urban Settlements Office.

In his presentation, he shared management strategies to successfully implement Manila's Land for the Landless Housing Services Program Before Forty Years (LLP) with policymakers, housing providers, practitioners, campaigners, and other attendees.

The LLP is an urban land tenure security strategy in Manila aimed at constructing quality homes in safe and secure areas for the informal settler families (ISFs), enabling them to reside in a safe and healthy environment. 

According to the city’s public information office, the city administrator offered recommendations to enhance the LLP implementation in Manila, including conducting a thorough audit of available land in Manila to identify suitable parcels for housing development. He emphasized considering health-related factors such as proximity to healthcare facilities, access to clean water sources, sanitation infrastructure, and environmental risk mitigation.

Additionally, he suggested simplifying and streamlining regulatory processes related to land acquisition, zoning, issuance of permits and titling to expedite the housing project development. It includes integrating health considerations such as compliance with safety and accessibility building codes, incorporation of green spaces, and mitigation of air and noise pollution.

Rosete also encouraged the participation of the private sector in providing affordable housing through incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies, land grants, and streamlined approval processes. He said this should focus on promoting health-oriented design principles including access to healthcare facilities, incorporation of building technologies for energy efficiency and indoor air quality, and compliance to urban planning strategies which promote walkability and active transportation.

He also listed the areas that need to be improved to reduce the number of ISFs. These are collection efficiency and investment recovery, inclusion of livelihood opportunities, process redesign, shifting to digital and electronic payments, monitoring and evaluation, and integration of multi-stream management.

He also shared Malabon City’s housing strategy that started with the creation of a department dedicated to managing gaps and challenges in providing ample, decent, and affordable housing and urban settlements.

The city administrator highlighted the importance of sharing the best practices in LLP implementation to inspire and inform other housing providers.

“We have discussed the best practices done regarding the LLP implementation, to be able to inspire and share our observations, experiences, and learnings to other housing providers so that housing programs in Malabon and other cities in other countries will be developed to serve all those who are in need better. In Malabon, the city government led by our Mayor Jeannie Sandoval, eyes to provide healthy, quality homes for our beloved Malabueños,” he said.

In February 2024, Rosete was the only Filipino conference paper presenter and shared the city’s housing and urban development initiatives with practitioners from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other countries in Asia and the Pacific, during the Asia-Pacific Network for Housing Research-13th Australasian Housing Researchers' Conference held at the University of South Australia- City West Campus, City of Adelaide.