Affordable Housing Symposium: solutions, dialogue

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - Hoping to increase the availability of affordable housing on Guam, several industry professionals took to the Hyatt to provide solutions and open dialogue in achieving thousands of homes in the coming years. Having attended the first Affordable Housing Symposium four years ago, Micronesia Community Development Corporation executive director Carlos Camacho says he is amazed by how many milestones have been achieved relative to making home ownership a big part of the Guamanian Dream.

"Now you're seeing all these inventory [sic] of government lands that can be available for affordable housing," he said.

Just this month his company cleared the final debris to begin building nearly 400 affordable homes at Lada Estates. And as last year focused on issues from limited land to revising regulations, Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority executive director Ray Topasna says this year will focus on overcoming those challenges and offering solutions- as updated in the Affordable Housing Five-Year Strategic Plan.

He explained, "It's a fluid document and there have been a number of issues that have come before us with respect to the buildup, with respect to regulatory challenges and that all needs to be incorporated into the strategic plan."

He says in the coming months, Guam will see more development in achieving the Calvo Administration's goal of building 3,000 homes by 2017 - several of which are due to partnerships with several stakeholders. One of those partners, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development's regional administrator, Ophelia Basgal, who spoke about what HUD can do to help Guam.

She said, "And I think what we want to be able to talk about is the resources that are available not only funding, but intellectual types of property that might be able in the sense of ideas that people have, examples that we can demonstrate that address some of the issues such as central city redevelopment."

Camacho meanwhile says he joined the industry 20 years ago to offer solutions and today only further offered the tools and knowledge needed to get there. "The more we get that educational data out to our community leaders like realtors, loan officers from the banks, bankers, than they can create a product," he said.

The symposium continues tomorrow here at the Hyatt where panelist will further discuss federal resources, building green and what's next for affordable housing here on Guam.