Only 700 have applied so far for Emergency Rental Assistance

Aside from the $10.4 million that the CNMI had already received through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the Commonwealth will get an additional $7.9 million for the program, according to Office of Grants Management administrator Epiphanio Cabrera Jr. yesterday.

Yet despite such a large amount of available funding, Cabrera said they have received only 700 applicants so far. Based on their calculation the rental assistance program can hold up to 1,500 clients a month.

“We only received 700-some, so we are halfway,” he said.

The program aims to reduce evictions and to keep CNMI citizens in stable homes, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For now, only U.S. citizens, green card holders, and long-term residents are eligible for rental assistance.

Cabrera said the additional $7.9 million for the program is part of the American Rescue Plan’s $515 million that is allocated to the CNMI. That amount will be transferred to the CNMI by May 15—60 days after President Joseph R. Biden signed it into law.

As part of the process, OGM will call the applicants whose applications have been approved to let them know “and for you to come in and to sign more documents,” he said. Once the applicants sign the documents, the OGM will then inspect the applicant’s home. Once the inspection is completed, then the grant specialist would review the compensation or the payment plan. After the payment plan is approved, it gets to the Department of Finance and CNMI Treasury for the issuance of the check to the landlord.

Rental payments will be made to landlords a few days after OGM inspects the applicants’ house, Cabrera said.

Right now, Cabrera said, his staff are doing the first 74 applicants who are already on board. The former Pena House Boutique in Chalan Kanoa is being set up for the rental assistance program.

“That’s the first full week of the review. So now it’s just a matter of scheduling them to come in, the clients to come in, to do the form, then they’re [going to] do the inspection,” he said.

Cabrera said they are still putting their office together, hence some minor delays. “We just got our power up maybe last Thursday for the rental office down there. The phones haven’t been installed yet,” he said.

He said that, according to IT&E, they are trying to put in the fiber optic and will be doing the phone systems.

He said Dana Calvo, who is the grant specialist at the site, has been working hard with the staff and they’re already done reviewing the batch of applicants from the first week and are now into the batches from the second week.

Cabrera said they printed over 4,000 applications and received 700.

“We understand the community is asking about the status. So in the meantime, we are still trying our best to get all the programmatic rules and regulations set. We are about 85% set with the regulations or the rules,” he said.

He encouraged clients or future clients to make sure that their landlords have a business license. “We’ll appreciate it if all the landlords can provide us a statement of account, like how much is past due,” he said.

Cabrera said they can take the word of the client, but they also want to take the word of the business owner or the landlords. “It’s only fair because it’s a check and balance system. We can’t just pay out cash or pay out the check to an individual claiming that we owe this much or that they owe this much without having the landlord saying anything,” he said.

OGM started distributing and accepting applications last Feb. 16. They are still distributing and accepting applications at their office in Chalan Kanoa.

“We highly advise the community to be aware that staff members will be conducting inspections of their rental units,” Cabrera said.