‘Stigma reason why Liyo housing barely occupied’

A board member of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. raised concerns that one reason why the Section 8 housing on Rota is barely occupied is the stigma brought by dwelling in housing units for low-income families.

Diego Songao questioned during the board’s meeting yesterday if anybody has already signed up for the Liyo housing after incentives have been provided by NMHC.

“I’m trying to dig in to the reasons as to why these people don’t want to stay in the housing. Is there an internal problem with them that they don’t want? Is it the image?” Songao asked the other board members.

Songao said he wanted to know the progress of the Liyo housing occupancy “because if that (incentives) is not working, then something is wrong.”

According to Songao, it might be that families who can benefit from Liyo housing do not want to be “segmented in that kind of class” and have people look down on them and treat them differently.

Songao pointed out the “social problem” of bullying on young school children staying in the Section 8 housing neighborhood.

“I will assure you that that is a problem. Perhaps maybe we can help. I’d like the director to really look into that and analyze whether this behavior continues to be and that we won’t be filling these units if that is the sentiment of a lot of people,” he said.

Corporate director Joshua Sasamoto added that the “stigma problem” is true among Section 8 dwellers across the nation, adding that NMHC spends a lot of money to ensure that its Section 8 housing units are maintained.

Board chair Marcie Tomokane, for her part, noted that this concern has been raised and discussed many times, even by previous board members.

While she indicated that the social behavior and culture in the small community of Rota brings about its uniqueness, Tomokane also noted that NMHC has already made all efforts to reach out to the residents and encouraged tenancy in Liyo housing.

The Liyo housing, Tomokane said, is situated in a “nice community” and highly elevated part of Songsong village.

When Songao revealed that the current Liyo housing sign identifies the community as a Section 8 subdivision, Tomokane said it must be removed right away and change the name to something similar to Mihaville or Tottotville Estate.

“We need to change it because maybe that is the eye-catcher there,” said Tomokane.