A modest proposal

If nothing else, the recent controversy over the clearing of public land has raised the issue of homesteads in the public eye. Like so many ideas, the program to give landless local residents a parcel of land to build their homes on is a noble one. But like so many other good ideas it has been abused. What I don’t understand is why anyone would propose establishing new homestead areas anywhere on Saipan when so many lots already assigned are going to waste. Drive through any homestead area and you will find numerous overgrown abandoned lots. In the As Matuis homestead area I would estimate 25 percent of the lots have never been built on or have had only minimal construction started. This tells us several things. First, there are people applying for lots who don’t really need them. If they did, they would live there. Secondly, people who might have had use for a lot at one time are packing up and leaving the CNMI because of the economy. And thirdly, the homestead program’s own regulations are not being enforced. Recipients are supposed to construct homes within a certain number of years. This requirement is being ignored.

Meanwhile, the people who have played by the rules and sacrificed their time and money to build on their homestead lots are subjected to living in the midst of rat infested abandoned eyesores. I don’t know what the government’s real cost is to prepare a homestead lot, but it must be in the tens of thousands of dollars when clearing, surveying, utilities, and road construction is considered. So, before any more homestead subdivisions are proposed I would suggest the following: Lots that have been awarded but have not been built on within the required time frame should be taken back by the government. In cases where homes have been constructed but abandoned (and there are many) the government could consider buying back the properties but paying only for the cost of improvements, not the land itself. The value of the improvements could easily be established by two independent appraisers and be signed off by the public auditor. These properties could then be awarded to people on the homestead waiting list.

The above would accomplish several things. First, many people on the waiting list with a legitimate need for a homestead lot would be able to receive their lots in a matter of months. As it stands now, with the government penniless, it could be many years before funds become available. Secondly, because these eyesores would be cleaned up, property values in the homesteads areas will go up. Third, by not creating new homestead subdivisions, scarce land will be preserved; either for conservation or for homesteads in the future when they really are needed. Fourth, it will save the government money. And fifth, those people who jumped at the chance for a homestead lot because it was “free” but now find that they have made a bad financial decision might be able to recoup some of the money they have unwisely spent.

I would encourage everyone, if they haven’t done so recently, to take a ride through any of the homestead areas. Many people have built nice homes of which they should be proud. But forcing them to live adjacent to squalor is something that nobody should be proud of.