HOUSING DIVISION

 

     Information on the origins of the Housing Division are scant. However, it appears that during World War II 1942-45, the area had been acquired and cleared to house military personnel constructing Am. Samoa's first airport. After the war until the early 1960s, several government facilities developed. It then became part of the Dept. of Administrative Services Treasury Division sometime after the first local Educational TV program started. Between 1964-1967, a Tafuna Housing Complex was built to accomodate Educational TV program contract teachers and other ASG/Federal employees. Personnel from the mainland would be assigned a housing unit for the duration of their employment. When the Educational TV program ended in the early 70s, the housing units turned into general government contract employee housing and, by the 1980s, government office spaces were added. Housing seems to have been under the Public Works Dept. until at least 1989, and became a part of the Dept. of Administrative Services sometime around 1994.

 

     Today, the Housing Division is led by a Chief Housing Officer and a staff team of office workers, housing inspectors, maintenance men & repair crews. This Division oversees the daily needs of resident occupants and monitors and maintains housing and grounds conditions. Other duties entail occasional repair and renovation of other DAS division facilities.