How many houses would be built if it cost $1 million apiece to build modest single-family homes?
Surely, not many. Yet, that’s what Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the annual meeting of the National American Indian Housing Council it nearly costs to build a home in many parts of rural Alaska, due to short building seasons, expensive materials and the high cost of shipping to extremely remote places.
“The expense is staggering,” she told the meeting (held in Anchorage), via a filmed message.
The results, for the Alaska Natives she represents (who total more than 80% of the nation’s American Indian tribes) are 1970’s era “HUD homes” not built for harsh climates and visibly decaying, beset with mold, mildew, inadequate water and sanitation.
Constraints on building also cause extreme overcrowding of more than 10 people per home.
Another result is that “severe respiratory illnesses are too common in Native American children.”
