Sectoral emergency declared in housing, urban planning, and sanitation due to critical conditions

The Executive Branch declared an emergency in the sectors of Housing, Urbanism and Urban Development, and Sanitation through Supreme Decree No. 016-2026-VIVIENDA, published in the Official Gazette El Peruano on Sunday, October 25, 2026. The regulation was signed at the Government House on October 23 by the President of the Republic, Keiko Sofía Fujimori Higuchi, and countersigned by the Minister of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation, Mauricio Fernando Arnillas González. The provision mandates the Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation (MVCS) to approve a Sectoral Strategy within a period not exceeding sixty (60) business days.

Critical conditions motivating the measure

The decree bases the declaration on the persistence of “critical conditions” linked to the population’s access to comprehensive housing and urbanism solutions, and restrictions regarding the access, quality, continuity, reliability, and sustainability of drinking water and sanitation services. According to the text, these gaps “require a prioritized institutional response within the Ministry’s scope of competence.”

The measure is supported by Law No. 30156, the Law on Organization and Functions of the MVCS, which grants the sector competence in housing, construction, sanitation, urbanism, and urban development, and by numeral 3 of article 11 of Law No. 29158, the Organic Law of the Executive Branch, which enables the regulation of sectoral activity through supreme decree.

As regulatory precedents, the decree cites two current instruments:

• Supreme Decree No. 012-2021-VIVIENDA, which approved the National Housing and Urbanism Policy with a 2030 horizon.
• Supreme Decree No. 010-2026-VIVIENDA, which approved the National Multisectoral Drinking Water and Sanitation Policy to 2050.

Sectoral Strategy: 60 days for approval and six months for execution

Article 4 of the provision charges the MVCS with developing and approving, via Ministerial Resolution, a Sectoral Strategy intended to identify situations requiring attention, coordinate the actions of organs, organizational units, programs, and attached agencies, and define lines of action and monitoring mechanisms.

The established deadlines are as follows:

• Approval of the Sectoral Strategy: maximum sixty (60) business days counted from the day following the publication of the supreme decree.
• Execution: six (6) months counted from the day following its approval.
• Parties responsible for its development: the Vice-Ministerial Offices of Housing and Urbanism and of Construction and Sanitation, through their competent organs, organic units, and programs.

The scope of the regulation covers all organs, organizational units, programs, and Attached Public Agencies of the Ministry, according to its article 3.

Financing charged to the institutional budget

Article 5 establishes that implementation will be financed charged to the institutional budget of the MVCS and its attached public bodies, “without demanding additional resources from the Public Treasury.” This budgetary conclusion is contained in Report No. 506-2026-VIVIENDA/OGPP-OP from the Budget Office, while Report No. 0400-2026-VIVIENDA/SG-OGPP-OPM from the Planning and Modernization Office indicated that the proposal aims to strengthen the functions that the legal framework attributes to the Ministry.

The technical justification came from the General Directorate of Construction and Sanitation Policies and Regulation, which submitted Report No. 1006-2026-VIVIENDA/VMCS-DGPRCS-DS via Note No. 606-2026-VIVIENDA/VMCS-DGPRCS. The decree is considered excluded from the Ex Ante Regulatory Impact Analysis, pursuant to literal b) of paragraph 41.1 of article 41 of the Regulations of Legislative Decree No. 1565, approved by Supreme Decree No. 023-2025-PCM.

Publication and validity

Article 6 provides for the publication of the decree on the digital platforms of the MVCS on the same day as its appearance in the official gazette, and Article 7 establishes that the instrument is endorsed solely by the head of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation.

The declaration of emergency does not set a duration period on its own: the time horizon remains tied to the approval and execution of the Sectoral Strategy that the Ministry must issue within the next 60 business days.

The impact of the measure falls on drinking water and sewerage users and on the MVCS project portfolio, whose attached bodies and programs—including sanitation service provider entities—become subject to sectoral prioritization with defined deadlines and responsible parties. Since it does not contemplate additional resources, the strategy must be executed with the current institutional budget, which conditions its real margin of action in a context of persistent gaps in housing and sanitation.

Source: Official Gazette El Peruano, October 25, 2026, Legal Norms section, pág. 31-32 (official reference: 2568101-2).