Court halts Guam's sleep shelter project; AG Moylan vows to fight on

Attorney General Douglas appeals to Gov. Leon Guerrero: “Governor, help our people. Forget the politics. Let’s just help them now.” Photo by Myracle Mugol

By Myracle Mugol

A last-minute court order has put a sudden stop to the Dignity Project, Guam’s first targeted effort to address the intersection of homelessness and opioid addiction using funds from the national opioid settlement.

Superior Court Judge John Terlaje on Monday issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the program’s launch just hours before it was set to begin.

Attorney General Douglas Moylan, who advocated the initiative, spoke candidly during a press conference after the court issued the order.

"I'll do what you want if we can get this project working," Moylan said, directing his plea to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, his aunt. "I don't need or want my lawyers having been litigated out at taxpayer expense."

The court's action was in response to Leon Guerrero's lawsuit challenging Moylan’s $1.13 million hotel contract, which he signed on April 15.

The attorney general emphasized that the real loss was not political, but human.

“The ones hurting more here are the people of Guam — the homeless, the needy, the poor, the drug-addicted,” Moylan said, underscoring that the Dignity Project was built around meeting basic human needs: shelter, nourishment, safety and stability.

Eight months in the making, Dignity Project was modeled after Depression-era soup kitchens—modest, direct responses to widespread suffering.

The plan called for a 20-bed facility inside the Tropical Palm hotel, where participants would be offered nightly meals, clean clothing, assistance with public benefits applications, and pathways to day labor work. Families with children were to be accommodated separately.

During the press conference, the AG’s office explained that despite the urgency behind the project, setting it up was anything but smooth. Initial attempts to secure services through a request for proposals and an invitation for bids failed when no vendors responded.

The OAG then pursued a sole-source procurement—typically a last resort—to get the facility up and running.

“We tried the RFP process, we tried the bid process. No one came forward,” Moylan explained. “Sole-source was the only way to move forward.”

The governor’s lawsuit, filed just days before the scheduled opening, claimed the procurement process was flawed and objected to the absence of her approval on the final contract.

Moylan pushed back hard, calling the lawsuit politically motivated. “The governor sues on a Friday. Not one phone call to me. No dialogue. Just a lawsuit,” he said. “This isn’t about who’s right — it’s about getting help to the people who need it.”

Moylan also pointed out that the Opioid Recovery Advisory Council, which includes several gubernatorial appointees, had overwhelmingly voted to support the use of the funds for Project Dignity.

Assistant Attorney General Lee Miller confirmed that the Office of the Attorney General will be filing an emergency appeal with the Guam Supreme Court. “This isn’t about political turf wars. It’s about saving lives,” Miller said.

For now, Project Dignity remains on hold, and communities and partners with the program are left waiting.

Moylan closed the press conference with a direct appeal: “Governor, help our people. Forget the politics. Let’s just help them now.”

"I'll just use our media sources here to put an open invitation to my aunt, Lourdes Leon Guerrero, to call me up, her nephew, Douglas Moylan, and let's focus on helping our poor and homeless," Moylan said.

The governor sued Moylan, alleging that the contract, which she refused to sign, was procured illegally.

“Gov. Leon Guerrero filed her action two days after the AG’s office threatened a Department of Administration official with criminal prosecution if they did not register the contract,” the governor’s office said in a press release.

“While I agree that we must all do more to help our island’s homeless population, it is important that we accomplish this task lawfully. The attorney general has demonstrated a pattern for disregarding the laws that stand between him and his goals,” Leon Guerrero said.

“I am grateful that the court put a temporary stop to this most recent violation while we continue the fight for longer term relief," she added.

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