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HUD officials to visit Saipan
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Posted on May 19 2012
By Clarissa V. David
Reporter
Reporter
Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are scheduled to visit the island next month.
Acting corporate director Jesse Palacios of the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. said Thursday that the HUD officials will be flying to Saipan on a side trip as they are set to attend the Affordable Housing Symposium at the Hyatt Regency in Guam from June 19 to 20.
The Guam Affordable Housing Symposium gathers government leaders and housing planners, developers, realtors, engineers, and consultants to discuss housing issues and challenges as well as potential solutions to meet housing needs on the island.
The symposium, now on its fourth year, is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in partnership with the Guam Housing Corp., Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority, HUD, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Palacios disclosed that regional administrator Ophelia B. Basgal of HUD Region 9 and Honolulu Field Office Community Planning and Development director Mark A. Chandler will be on Saipan for a one-day visit on June 21.
Prior to that, CPD representative Marsha E. Ito of Honolulu Field Office will also do on-site monitoring from June 4 to 8 on several HUD programs administered by NMHC, including the Neighborhood Stabilization Program or NSP and the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program or HPRP.
NSP is a funding program that provides emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within the community.
HPRP aims to provide financial assistance and housing stabilization and relocation services to families and individuals in the CNMI who are homeless or are at risk of being homeless.
Palacios said HUD’s Basgal and Chandler will meet with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and NMHC board members.
