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NMHC to loan out $1M worth of funds
A new loan program will be made available to Commonwealth residents from the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.
The NMHC board approved in its recent meeting the Housing Finance Loan Program, allowing for $1 million to be available for the loan.
“We have that $1 million to loan out for new construction, or you can purchase and rehabilitate, or just to rehabilitate your existing house,” corporate director Jesse Palacios said.
According to Palacios, the $1 million, which comes from the corporation’s own funds, will be divided between the three islands.
For Saipan, $500,000 will be allotted, while Tinian and Rota will get $250,000 each.
A $100,000 limit was set per loan agreement especially for new construction, which is higher than the maximum for their current HOME program, which has a limit of $57,000 plus $20,000 supplemental.
However, NMHC said they might prioritize applicants who are under their waiting list. Only Tinian currently doesn’t have a wait list for loans.
“We have already a waiting list for our HOME program. I think we need to take care of them first,” Palacios said, “That $1 million will be gone rather quickly.”
Palacios said they wished they could give out more but they don’t have enough funds.
“That’s the only money we have. We wish to loan out more but we don’t have,” Palacios said.
The funds to be loaned out are a portion of the funds that NMHC provides as a guarantee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development. It came from collections from renting and selling their properties, and as the funding is not federal money, Palacios said they can go above the HUD income limits.
