25 families evicted from gov’t. housing • NMHC says federal money is no longer available to support the assistance program

Twenty-five low-income families have until today to vacate their homes in the Garapan public housing area after the federal government cut its aid to the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation under the 20-year old assistance program.

These housing units will be leased out to other families who can afford the new rent or bid out to commercial developers, according to NMHC Corporate Director Marylou S. Ada.

“The public housing assistance program is going to expire (today) and there will no longer be federal money pumping into that project,” she said in an interview.

But Ada stressed the families who will be displaced will be given voucher or certificate for relocation expenses as part of the transition before the program is phased out completely.

This system “will work fine with them these families will agree to the plan because they can collect (vouchers) wherever they want to go, where they want to live, maybe closer to work or closer to schools,” she added.

NMHC used to spend more than $30,000 each month to maintain the program from funds granted by the federal government, but it had been a failure as some families became increasingly dependent on this housing subsidy.

According to Ada, a complimentary NMHC program teaching self-sufficiency skills to these families did not meet their expectation as it was largely ignored.

Those who had jobs even had to ask their employers not to give them salary raise because this would mean disqualification from the public housing assistance.

“The program is not really working,” the housing official explained. “It only made families institutionalized themselves, not getting educated and going out there, living productive life.”

Although wholly funded by Washington, the expenditures incurred the scheme had continued to go up and Ada said giving them voucher will be a cheaper alternative.

The amount of the assistance to pay for the rent will depend on the family’s income level, its composition and the size of the housing it needs.

“It will be less costly for us to do it because if they go out and find a private landlord, the landlord will be responsible to maintain, to do all the repairs,” she said.

“If we were the landlord, we do everything from landscaping, throwing their thrash, procuring equipment, insuring it, putting fire alarm, fixing them.”