The local government of the war-torn southern Philippine city of Marawi is slowly allowing residents back to their homes. Parts of the city are slowly coming back to life, but thousands may still have to wait years before their homes can be rebuilt. Why is the process so slow? And why are some residents able to go home while others aren’t?

The pictures of Marawi in ruins seen in most media reports actually show a small portion of the city – not even half of it, though it is still the heart of Marawi. Most of Marawi is in fact intact, and so residents of these unaffected areas are now slowly being allowed back into their villages while those whose homes are in the former battle zone will have to wait until their communities are fully secured and rehabilitated.

Families have had to be away from their homes for close to half a year of war. Many found their homes were very different when they were allowed to return last week. Omel Abdul Azis immediately noticed things missing including a computer and TV sets. The Marawi resident was told soldiers had stayed in the house.

The family is too happy to care. Aina Hadji Bashir, another Marawi resident, told CGTN that all that mattered was everyone in his family was alive and his home was at least still intact.

In parts of Marawi, shops are open for business and students are back in school, but these were communities relatively unaffected by the battle between government soldiers and ISIL followers.

Thousands of people lived in the severely damaged center of the city, and thousands more rely on this part of town for their livelihoods. They can’t return yet.

The government plans to move a number of them to transitional shelters soon. The hope is to be able to accommodate 500 households by the end of the year. Felix Castro from a government inter-agency task force, Bangon Marawi, said the Sagonsongan facility will not be enough for the 6,000 families in the most affected area.

So for the time being, most of them will have to remain in evacuation camps, where living conditions are less than ideal. Evacuee Najira Ali said, “We rely solely on handouts. Sometimes we don’t have enough to eat because there’s so many of us in our family.”

But they have no choice except to wait for help, because they’ve lost everything.

In the central business district, some families lost tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of US dollars in cash and property. So the cost of rehabilitating and rebuilding the area is estimated to be somewhere between one to two billion dollars.

Even though we’re only talking about a portion of Marawi, it still covers 24 villages, and it is estimated that it will take up to five years to rebuild these. Those affected will have to stay in transitional shelters and that’s why authorities are building these facilities to last a few years. They look a lot more robust than the ones erected for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

There have been many suggestions about how Marawi should be rebuilt – with some even suggesting a completely new city around the old one – but that’s unlikely given local sentiment and complexities around ownership. Officials are aiming to have a final plan by March next year.

Asia Today is a 30-minute news and current affairs show on CGTN with a focus on issues in the Asia-Pacific region. It airs daily at 7 p.m. BJT (1100GMT) with no rebroadcast.