Providing legal ownership is proving to be the hardest challenge the Federal Emergency Management Agency has to overcome in its housing program for survivors of Super Typhoon Yutu, according to Sheryl Cochran, director of FEMA\u2019s Region IX Recovery Office.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a radio news briefing last Friday, Cochran said they are pushing as hard and as fast as they can to get the housing program finished but that effort has had some significant stumbling blocks, chief of which is getting homeowners to provide proof of legal ownership.<\/p>\n
Yutu hit the CNMI last October 2018. As part of its assistance to the CNMI, FEMA has stepped in to help homeowners with repairing their damaged homes and, in some cases, building brand-new homes for qualified residents. Three years later since Yutu, though, Cochran said they have 25 cases that are still pending legal review or adjudication with the court system to provide proof of legal ownership. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s 25 out of 290 total cases. And that doesn\u2019t count the ones that we\u2019ve completed,\u201d she added. Cochran said they had completed over 74 of those cases already. \u201cIt would be easy to say, \u2018Let\u2019s start them all. Let\u2019s start them all right now.\u2019 But we had some significant issues that we had to deal with. Providing legal ownership has been the hardest to overcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Also, nearly a third of the people applying for housing aid needs assistance to have the legal documentation even to start work. \u201cSo right now, where we\u2019re at is we\u2019re really hitting those cases that are just clearing probate,\u201d Cochran said. <\/p>\n
She said FEMA believes that they will have everything through probate hopefully by late summer, and will be in the full-blown construction work by them. <\/p>\n
She said as soon as they get those cases out, they have the construction and repair contracts awarded as fast as they can. Right now, there are 60 homes pending contract award on new construction and 17 pending contract award on repair, she added. <\/p>\n
Cochran said while those are ready to go, they still have a number of other projects for procurement and make sure that they bid those out.<\/p>\n
She concedes that nobody is going to be happy until FEMA is 100% done with the housing program. \u201cAnd until we\u2019re 100% done, we are always going to push as hard as we can to get additional contractors here to bring on additional homes as fast as possible,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
On the other hand, Cochran said there is also a \u201cbig success story\u201d to the situation and that is the number of local contactors that are really engaged in this program.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, there is a larger national contractor that\u2019s here. But the vast majority of the work is going to the local contractors that are helping,\u201d Cochran said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s helping boost the CNMI economy, she said. \u201cI think that that\u2019s a really good thing for the CNMI and for its overall recovery and resiliency,\u201d she pointed out. <\/p>\n
She said it seems like it\u2019s been a really long time since Super Typhoon Yutu. Cochran wants to reassure everyone, though, that FEMA remains dedicated and committed. \u201cI\u2019m not sure how many of you know that we do have a long-term recovery office here. That is very different than what FEMA normally does,\u201d she said, adding that it\u2019s one of very few long-term recovery offices that they actually have in the agency. <\/p>\n
Cochran said it\u2019s to make sure that they maintain that partnership, especially in insular areas, to rebuild that resilient community and make sure that they not only rebuild homes and infrastructure but also build capacity within. <\/p>\n
She said they work quite closely with Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig and even with Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente to help make sure that they can get workers here and grow that capacity.<\/p>\n
Cochran said they talk a lot about housing and how many houses they\u2019ve built, but she reminds people that there\u2019s been a big up push with the adaptation of the 2018 Building Code. \u201cAnd those were really new to a lot of the local contractors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Cochran said they appreciate everybody\u2019s patience and diligence in staying committed to the program, but that one of the secondary things that happens when they execute these missions is that they bring in those different building codes and standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we shine a different light on how we can be more resilient, and how we can prevent future disasters,\u201d Cochran said.<\/p>\n
Right now, she said, they\u2019ve returned a total of 107 homes to survivors, which is about 37% of the applicants that remain in the permanent housing program.<\/p>\n
She said in both repair and new construction, they\u2019re looking at being at about 57% complete by August 2021. \u201cThat\u2019s really exciting for us to know that we\u2019re quickly approaching the halfway point,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Of the 115 homes that remain in the repair program, Cochran said they\u2019ve completed 80 homes here on Saipan and seven on Tinian. \u201cSo we\u2019re getting work on both islands. Obviously [that] comes with its own challenges beyond just the normal challenges here on Saipan. So we really appreciate everybody sticking with us and helping us get this done,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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