Fannie Reaches Out to Native-Americans

Fannie Mae and Crow Tribal Chairman Carl Venne have signed an agreement that will make conventional mortgage financing available on Crow tribal lands by removing a significant obstacle to homeownership on reservations, the tribe's jurisdiction over all land on reservations.The announcement was made at the Fourth Annual "Building Foundations for Housing" symposium in Billings, MT, a two-day conference on increasing affordable housing on tribal lands attended by nearly 150 tribal members, housing specialists, lenders, developers and nonprofit groups that specialize in tribal housing issues. "Today we accept the responsibility to build and finance our own homes," said chairman Venne, whose Office of Economic Development sponsored the legislation that permitted this agreement with Fannie Mae. Going forward, Native-Americans interested in buying a home on tribal lands can use traditional lenders for financing as a way to avoid falling victims to predatory lending and have more mortgage options. Fannie will provide needed liquidity to encourage more lenders to make conventional loans available to tribal members.