NMHC: Ball is in Sablan’s court

The Northern Marianas Housing Corp. now says that Rita Sablan herself caused the delay that prevented her from acquiring housing assistance.

In a previous article, Rita Sablan, 42, claimed that NMHC failed to provide her housing service for nearly six years. Sablan said she applied for multi-family housing (free housing) six years ago, was sent an eligibility notice in 2015 by NMHC, and lost her slot because she was in the hospital recovering from accidents that claimed both her legs.

NMHC administrator Jesse Palacios acknowledged Sablan’s timeline, saying her claims match their records: that Sablan first applied in 2012 for multi-family housing (free housing) and was put on the waiting list until 2015 due to their long waiting list and lack of available housing. An eligibility notice was sent out but they got no response so NMHC was required to give Sablan’s slot up.

Palacios said their records show that Sablan hadn’t reached out to them until June and July 2017 requesting updates in regards to her housing application. According to a prior interview with Sablan, she said she had been reaching out to NMHC for nearly a year.

Palacios pointed out that NMHC caseworkers had informed Sablan of the possible steps she could take to get back into NMHC’s waiting list. Unfortunately, NMHC records show that Sablan failed to submit the required evidence.

According to Palacios, there is nothing else that NMHC can do until proof of supporting evidence is submitted to their office.

Palacios said that if Sablan is able to turn in the justification needed, they can even consider bumping her to the top of the waiting list for multi-family housing, which is currently maxed out with over 200 families.

According to Northern Marianas Protection and Advocacy Systems Inc. executive director Jim Rayphand, the legality of the matter when it comes to housing assistance is that there are no preferences or prioritizing.

“Here’s the hard truth about housing, disabled or otherwise, all individuals are considered equal,” he said.

NMPASI program manager Jimmy Sablan said their records show no signs of Sablan seeking their assistance but it could possibly be because she didn’t come to their office and just called for inquiries.

Jimmy Sablan and Rayphand said that when it comes to their part, their office is not able to grant housing, but they can plead for cases as an advocate group.

Rayphand said that he and his team are even willing to go out of their way, if needed, to visit Sablan personally if she is not able to make it to their office.

“When it comes down to it, we can only give them referrals or plead their case if necessary and sometimes we even go beyond that,” said Rayphand.