Tondo is the largest of the 16 districts of the City of Manila in terms of population and

land area. It is also the most densely populated district in the city.Tondo has been
labelled as among the biggest urban poor communities in the City of Manila alongside
Port Area. Development projects and urban upgrading initiatives have been targeting
communities and neighbourhoods within this district, among the prominent of which are
Smokey Mountain, a landfill that was operational for more than 40 years, and
Happyland, an informal settlement where families are known to live without running
water and functional toilets. Smokey Mountain operated for more than 40 years,
consisting of over two million metric tons of waste. The flammable substances on
decomposing waste led to numerous fires which has resulted in many deaths.
In 1969, a joint venture agreement, between the National Housing Authority (NHA) and
R-II Builders Inc. (RBI) was made to build a low-cost housing project at Smokey
Mountain. On 15 August 2007, this agreement was declared valid by the Philippine
Supreme Court. The area was officially closed in 1995. The site was turned into public
housing for the impoverished people living in the slums surrounding the landfill. The
slums were also cleared, which was the home of 30,000 people that make their living
from picking through the landfill's rubbish.
Projects have been enforced by the Government and non-government organizations to
allow urban resettlement sites for the slum dwellers. According to a UN-Habitat report,
over 20 million people in the Philippines live in slums, and in the city of Manila alone,
50% of the over 11 million inhabitants live in slum areas.