HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Government and company officials cut the ribbon Wednesday on Summer Breeze I, a 64-unit Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project in Barrigada – the first of its kind for the village.
The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority administers LIHTC on Guam. The agency awarded $3.6 million in annual tax credits to Summer Breeze I LLC in late 2021, according to a prior notice from the Office of the Governor. This will amount to $36.6 million over a 10-year compliance period, the notice stated.
Core Tech Development LLC is the project’s developer. Guam Facilities Foundation Inc., Core Tech’s nonprofit partner, will provide residents with programs and services with other community partners, GHURA stated in a news release. The Guam Daily Post is affiliated with Core Tech International Corp.
“Since the opening of the first LIHTC development in 2005, there have been approximately 1,187 affordable housing units built and awards totaling $37,714,316. But we still need to build thousands more. And GHURA looks forward to future housing projects and hopes that developers will continue to submit their applications,” GHURA Executive Director Elizabeth Napoli said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Acting Gov. Joshua Tenorio stated at the ceremony that the project could have been completed faster, but the Core Tech team experienced delays that the governor’s administration had been hearing about.
“I know that there’s some delays because of (the State Historic Preservation Office) here. I just want you to know that Sen. (Roy) Quinata, Sen. (Jesse) Lujan and I are working very closely together on making some improvements so that we can bring some balance,” Tenorio said.
“The three of us have a responsibility to maintain the natural and cultural resources of our island. But we have a desire to make Guam have an ease of business posture, which means that we need to go in and fast track or consolidate the kinds of things that developers and our own people are dealing with when they’re trying to make improvements to their own property,” the acting governor added, acknowledging that the government is behind in that aspect.
Tenorio said some things can be done concurrently, and he is hoping to move an online permitting system out of its procurement “purgatory.”
“This is a longstanding thing, and there have been measured improvements elsewhere. But this, in the permitting system, really is going to be where we’ll make the most effort,” Tenorio said.
While the ribbon-cutting was held just Wednesday, Napoli said 62 out of the 64 units at Summer Breeze I were already occupied. The remaining two units were in the process of being occupied, she added.
Acting Gov. Josh Tenorio, ninth from left, joins other dignitaries in cutting the ribbon to celebrate the opening of the 64-unit Summer Breeze I housing project Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Barrigada.
