{"id":338718,"date":"2021-02-18T06:04:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T20:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=338718"},"modified":"2021-02-18T06:04:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T20:04:17","slug":"many-start-lining-up-to-avail-of-rental-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/many-start-lining-up-to-avail-of-rental-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"Many start lining up to avail of rental aid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Victoria T. Guerrero, protocol officer to the governor and lieutenant governor, assists three persons who picked up pre-application forms for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program at the Governor\u2019s Office mailroom on Capital Hill yesterday morning. (Ferdie De La Torre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many people started lining yesterday at the Governor\u2019s Office mailroom on Capital Hill to pick up pre-application forms for the $10.4-million COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program.<\/p>\n

When Saipan Tribune checked the mailroom at 11am, a total of 321 pre-application forms have already been handed out.<\/p>\n

Victoria T. Guerrero, protocol officer to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres and Lt. Gov. Arnold I, Palacios, has been assisting those getting and dropping pre-application forms.<\/p>\n

Guerrero said there was a long line shortly after they opened at 7:30am yesterday; they closed yesterday at 4:30pm.<\/p>\n

OGM started accepting and receiving the pre-applications Tuesday at the Governor\u2019s Office mailroom. OGM also started sending the pre-application forms to Tinian and Rota on Tuesday. The forms can be picked up and dropped at their respective mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

The OGM said they are still working with the U.S. Department of Treasury and U.S. Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (Ind-MP) for more guidance to ascertain whether foreign workers and those with other immigration status are eligible for rental aid.<\/p>\n

One foreign worker who requested that she be identified only as Marites, asked her husband, who is also a foreign worker, to get the pre-application form after seeing the announcement on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Maritess said they were driving around Capital Hill because they did not know the exact location of the mailroom.<\/p>\n

She and her husband felt bad when Saipan Tribune told them that as of now, only U.S. citizens and green card holders are eligible, per OGM\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Marites and her husband have a 15-year-old child, who is a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n

Marites worked for many years at a Saipan hotel but was furloughed in March because of the pandemic. She was subsequently terminated last August. Her husband, a tractor driver, lost his job last April. They said they only survive because of food stamps and doing all kinds of part-time jobs.<\/p>\n

The couple said their main problem is paying their $400 monthly rent. They said their landlord has given them only tomorrow, Friday, to pay the rent or else they will be evicted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the other way around now. Our family in the Philippines is now sending money to us here,\u201d said the husband, who also asked not to be identified.<\/p>\n

The CNMI was awarded $10,400,669 for rental assistance and utility relief through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program under the recently enacted Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.<\/p>\n

OGM administrator Epiphanio Cabrera Jr. said the program aims to reduce evictions and to keep CNMI citizens in stable homes, especially during the COVID-19 emergency.<\/p>\n

Eligible households may receive up to 12 months of rental assistance plus an additional three months, depending on the household\u2019s circumstances.<\/p>\n

Payments to existing household-related arrears as far back as March 13, 2020, will be prioritized before consideration of any future rent payments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people started lining yesterday at the Governor\u2019s Office mailroom on Capital Hill to pick…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":338719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}