Military, tourism limit affordable housing on Guam

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Military, tourism limit affordable housing on Guam

HAGATNA – Market nuances on Guam are making it harder for Section 8 tenants to find affordable housing, according to the island’s housing authority.

The Guam Housing and Urban Renewal Authority administers various programmes to assist low-income residents find and maintain affordable housing. The agency’s two largest programmes are the public housing and Section 8 voucher programmes.

Whereas the public housing program gives low-income families the opportunity to lease government-owned homes, the Section 8 program caters to very low-income families by offering vouchers and certificates payable to participating landlord, according to Katherine Taitano, the agency’s chief planner.

The list of homeowners willing to lease to Section 8 tenants is growing shorter because owners are looking more to the Department of Defence and tourism dollars, Taitano said.

“We’re finding that more people are opting to rent their properties to military service members, because they get housing allowances, and one of the latest trends has also been an increased desire of landlords to enter the Airbnb rentals market,” Taitano said. “Landowners aren’t coming out and saying, ‘I’ll only rent to the military,’ but that’s exactly what’s happening.”

There are more than 300 available properties listed on Airbnb’s website. One listing was priced at US$28 a night. It offered a queen-sized bed in a home in Dededo, where guests would share a bathroom. Another Airbnb listing advertised a presidential penthouse condominium in Tamuning with five bedrooms, four bathrooms that could fit up to 10 people. It was renting for US$855 a night.

The military offers a housing allowance for service members who live off-base, which affects the market value of rentals.

Juan Flores, WestCare Pacific Islands administrator, has said that 90 percent of houses on the market are priced in the US$2,200-a-month rent range for the simple reason that that’s what the military pays.

“Very few homes are available below US$1,000 at the same standard of health and security,” Flores said.

There are about 1,500 people waiting to be housed through the Section 8 programme. The list recently was closed so the housing agency could better manage its services, according to Taitano.

The housing agency also administers federal tax credits to developers who build affordable housing projects. These are private rentals that are offered to prospective tenants who don’t fall within the household income definitions of low-income or very low-income, according to Taitano.

As the cost of living increases, all signs seem to point toward an increase in island residents who may need the assistance of the housing agency, according to Taitano. According to last year’s Point-In-Time Count, there are an estimated 852 homeless adults on Guam, and 47 percent are Chamoru.

“The same homelessness dynamics that you’d find in Hawaii also exist here on Guam,” Taitano said. “The average cost of (a house) in Hawaii right now is about US$700,000.”

According to the Hawaii Board of Realtors, that figure is more along the lines of US$790,000, for a single family home. However, the average sale price is about US$972,000.

“As we move forward, there has to be a balance that’s struck between progress and the people,” Taitano said. “We shouldn’t be living in society where working class people are still struggling to afford a roof over their heads or food (on) the table. The only acceptable measure of homelessness is zero.”

Earlier this year, Vice Speaker Therese Terlaje introduced a bill that would allow Rev and Tax to immediately collect taxes on short-term vacation rental units, like those listed on Airbnb.

Guam Housing and Restaurant Association President Mary Rhodes said the government lost the opportunity to tax some US$24 million in gross revenues by not taxing short-term vacation rentals.

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