THE Commonwealth has until Dec. 31, 2021 to spend the $10.4 million in Covid-19 Emergency Rental Assistance funds provided by the American Rescue Plan Act.
Of the amount only $444,734.59 or 5% has been spent so far, according to a report by the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee chaired by Democratic Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero.
In a meeting on Monday, the committee adopted the report, which recommends that “issues hampering the implementation of the rental assistance program be brought to the attention of the federal grantor, the U.S. Treasury.”
The following are the primary issues adversely affecting the timely expenditure of the federal funds:
1) Landlords not having a business license;
2) Clients not submitting required documents; and
3) Landlords believing the checks are supposed to be issued to the tenants.
The committee said based on the presentation of grants office administrator Epiphanio E. Cabrera Jr., there were 1,430 applicants from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
Among these applicants, there were those deemed ineligible because they turned out to be homeowners while others failed to meet the criteria. The actual number of eligible applicants was 1,204, the committee stated.
The report also said that according to Cabrera, as of May 21, 2021, there had been six batches of 219 payment requests dating from March 11, 2021 to March 21, 2021. The sum total of these six batches of payment requests was $444,734.59.
The committee stated that the program’s policies and procedures are currently still in a draft form, resulting in “uncertainty of the procedures that are being followed and enforced.”
The committee recommended that the federal grantor, the U.S. Treasury, “be informed of the issues regarding landlords not obtaining a business license while receiving federal funds and [to ask] if it is allowable.”
The panel also recommended that a contractual agreement with landlords be obtained, “to solidify them as a bona fide business dated back to March or 2020 while requiring that the landlords pay for the business licenses for that year in addition to the potential business gross revenue tax.”
Besides Deleon Guerrero, the other members of the delegation committee who attended the meeting on Monday were Democratic Reps. Tina Sablan, Denita Yangetmai and Vicente Camacho, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao and his fellow Republicans, Reps. Joseph Leepan Guerrero and Rep. John Paul Sablan.
The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee chaired by Sen. Edith Deleo Guerrero met on Monday in the Senate chamber.
