How is it going to be a problem? There is a declaration etc. for people who don't know anyone. It's going to be a pita for some, but not an insurmountable problem for most people. I think the most common problem will be people waiting until the last minute, and then not getting their passport in time because everyone else waited until the last minute, too.

Not that I think the policy makes any sense, just that getting a passport shouldn't be an insurmountable problem.

And if you think this is bad, I faced the same requirements when they suddenly decided that the landed immigrant papers they had given me were no longer good enough, and I needed to have a snazzy new card (at my own expense, after I'd already forked over all the fees required to get the papers)--and I hadn't yet lived in the country for two years, so my doctor, dentist, vet, eye doctor etc. hadn't known me long enough. Fortunately I have a friend who's a lawyer who had known me long enough.