The remaining families in ASG housing at Lions Park have been told they have to vacate their homes by the end of this week, as the government moves to carry out its plans to turn the housing area into a hub for health care, IT businesses and the like.
Doctors who were living in newly renovated homes, vacated their homes last year and earlier this year, and other contract employees followed suit.
But some of the teachers and Dept. of Education employees have had a hard time finding rental homes.
They point out that the federally subsidized programs, which supplement rent payments, is creating a shortage of rental homes, especially in the Western District; and they have also driven rental rates up. While apartment buildings are available, finding housing similar to the ones at Lions Park, which are stand alone homes, has been difficult.
Families also prefer to remain in areas close to Lions Park as their children attend schools nearby. They’ve house hunted in Nuuuli, Tafuna and other villages of Tuala-uta, but have not been successful.
The house hunters say that they have come across families who own homes, living in apartments and homes — to take advantage of the federal programs.
The house hunters are hopeful that when the federal programs end this month, they will be successful in locating rentals to move to; before the ASG houses they are occupying, are demolished.
