Santos who sponsored House Bill 17-76 said reports reaching her office indicate that some homesteaders never got their permits to develop their property because the EIA for the site is not complete yet.
“The Legislature…finds that qualified homesteaders participated in a lottery, the drawing of a village homestead lot, conducted by the Department of Public Lands but were never issued a homestead permit to the homestead lot drawn because DPL proceeded with the lottery without conducting and completing an environmental impact assessment on the homestead lots,” the findings of H.B. 17-76 state.
The homesteaders were just shown the boundaries of their winning lots but no permits were actually issued.
Santos said she finds this “extremely disturbing.”
“Homesteaders have been given high hopes of receiving their homestead lot by having them participate in a lottery process only to diminish their dreams of owning and building a safe, decent and sanitary dwelling for themselves and their families,” she said in her bill.
She added that this situation tarnished the essence of the Village Homesteading Act of 1979 .
If her bill is enacted into law, DPL must complete first the EIA on a homestead project before a homestead lottery is held to ensure that the recipient is issued the permit thereafter.
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