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NMHC to get funding cuts in 3 programs in FY2013
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Posted on Feb 25 2012
By Clarissa David
Reporter
Reporter
Fiscal year 2013 will prove to be more challenging in terms of meeting housing needs in the CNMI after the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. was officially notified about the “significant reductions” in the funding they receive from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
NMHC corporate director Joshua Sasamoto reported in Thursday’s board meeting that the agency received last week a copy of the HUD letter addressed to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial notifying him about the funding cuts.
“We knew this was coming and we got the final numbers now,” Sasamoto told the board.
HUD provides various grants to the CNMI that are administered by the NMHC. Among these are the Community Development Block Grant, the Home Investment Partnership Act, and the Emergency Shelter Grant Programs.
The Community Development Block Grant or CDBG is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs.
Established in 1974, CDBG is one of the longest continuously run programs at HUD and Sasamoto said this funding will go down by 3.7 percent in fiscal year 2013.
The Home Investment Partnership Act or HOME program, meanwhile, provides grants to finance the construction, purchase, or rehabilitation of affordable housing for low-income residents in states and territories. Sasamoto said this grant will drop next fiscal year by 38 percent.
Sasamoto noted that the NMHC will have “a slight saving grace” as the Emergency Shelter Grant Programs or ESG will go up by 40 percent in 2013.
According to Sasamoto, they have been discussing in the last two years the decline in the grants they are getting from HUD, which they questioned about the matter.
HUD’s “only” reason for the reduction, Sasamoto said, was population decline.
With the release of the 2010 Census results, which further revealed the CNMI’s diminishing number of residents, Sasamoto said they have been “guessing” about further funding cuts.
“Unfortunately, our prediction came true,” he said.
