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Lifting of homestead moratorium backed
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Posted on May 16 2005
The Marianas Public Lands Authority expressed its support yesterday to the planned lifting of the moratorium on homestead permit applications.
“The MPLA board supports [Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s] desire to provide property or alternative housing to all pending applicants. The intent of the MPLA board, as outlined in the Constitution, is to identify available sites and alternatives, and review pending applications in preparation for the lifting of the moratorium,” the board said in a brief statement.
The moratorium was implemented on Oct. 1, 2002 due to the dwindling inventory of public land. Pursuant to the moratorium, MPLA stopped accepting village homestead applications for Saipan and village and agricultural homestead applications for Rota.
However, residents on Tinian may apply for either of two homestead programs.
As of March 31, over 6,000 homestead permit applications were still pending at MPLA.
Kimo Rosario, the agency’s homestead division chief, reported that 4,053, or 64 percent, of the 6,313 permit applications were submitted by Saipan residents.
Applications from Tinian total 915. Of these, 516 are for village homestead and 399 for agricultural homestead.
From Rota, there are 647 residential homestead permit applications and 698 agricultural homestead applications.
Rosario said processing applications take a while because they have to be reviewed individually and carefully. He added that some requests were filed years ago and need updating by the applicants, particularly those whose names and civil status had changed due to marriage for instance.
The homestead program was created to assist needy residents to purchase homes and lots in order construct safe and decent housing.
MPLA has two types of homestead programs—the village and agricultural homestead programs. The village homestead program allows eligible applicants ample public land lot for the construction of a residential dwelling. The agricultural homestead program allows eligible applicants a sizable lot for the development and maintenance of farms crops.
