by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - Governor Eddie Calvo in his 2013 State of the Island Address touched on the topic of affordable housing and his work with Senator Tina Rose Muna Barnes and the Affordable Housing Initiative. The governor announced they are more than half way to reaching their goal of providing 3,000 affordable homes by 2017.

Guam Housing Corporation president Martin Benavente says this is just the beginning, noting, "We've got so much planned, we still have the 200 homes in Asatdas, we got the Lada Estates that will come online once we clear some things, we have many subdivisions being planned."

Benavente added that their motivation is to help people and ensure they don't fall through the cracks he said he we need help bring people back up.

Also during last night's address Governor Calvo said his administration is pursuing the end to the Systems Development Charge. The SDC costs the average person $8,000 in upfront costs to build the water and waste water infrastructure for a home. Calvo said "that is unaffordable."