Mayor disappointed over Rota’s exclusion from federal housing program

Rota Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona has aired his disappointment over the exclusion of Rota from a $1 million guaranteed housing loan packages earmarked by a federal agency for low-income Northern Marianas residents.

The Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan Program of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Office, which has an initial funding of $1 million, will be primarily extended exclusively to Saipan residents.

The program will be extended to Tinian and Rota residents depending on the outcome of its initial implementation on Saipan, according to the notification from the USDA on the enforcement of the Guaranteed Rural Housing in the CNMI.

“I sometimes despair. Rota is always required to wait. Why couldn’t Rota be used as a place to try the USDA program? Why do we always seem to be left out,” said Mr. Manglona in his previous letter to Rep. William S. Torres.

In another development, Mr. Manglona is seeking the assistance of Bank of Guam president Anthony Leon Guerrero, in the local government’s efforts to have the housing program also implemented on the island.

“We suspect that just because Bank of Hawaii is not serving Rota, they feel that they have no obligation to extend this benefit to us.
However, since your bank is servicing our island, please let us know what you can do to offer the same opportunity to our people,” he asked Mr. Leon Guerrero.

The federal agriculture department earlier announced it has given the Bank of Hawaii an authorization to process at least $1 million worth of home loan packages under the program.

Through the assistance of the Bank of Guam, the mayor is planning to open dialogue with officials of the USDA Rural Development Office to have Rota included in the pilot site of the guaranteed housing loan program.

Aside from the USDA’s Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan Program, the Federal Housing Administration Mortgage Insurance Program under the Department of Housing and Urban Development will also be implemented in the CNMI.

The implementation of FHA in the Northern Marianas came following the visit of HUD community builders Michael S. Flores and Jill B. Hurt who discussed the possible reinstatement of the program on the islands.

Mr. Flores and Ms. Hurt had initially held discussions with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, Northern Marianas Housing Corporation and Bank of Hawaii officials in preparation to the finalization and execution of the agreement for the program, which will be implemented on a pilot period, during which 20 cases will be tested.

Under the program, HUD insures a qualified residential mortgage. Such insurance benefits both the borrower and the lender who can file a claim with the HUD in case the borrower defaults on payment.

The FHA Mortgage Insurance increases an applicant’s chance of getting approved for a residential loan, as it reduces the lender’s risk of not being able to get his capital back.

NMHC Executive Director Marylou S. Ada said the implementation of both federal housing programs in the Northern Marianas is a welcome development since the idea of it being extended into the islands has been proposed for several years now. The proposed agreement has already been forwarded to Washington DC.