The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act is the most important American Indian housinglegislation ever to be passed into law. Its reauthorization by Congress will be a key step in helping tribes getoff the dispiriting Government dole and use their sovereignty to determine their own destiny.
At the National American Indian Housing Council's legislative meeting in Washington, D.C., I heard the NAHASDAreauthorization described as the top Indian housing initiative of the year. Right behind it -- more money to begiven to fund it.
By way of background, Indian Housing Authorities, like their older cousins the Public Housing Authorities, usedto be conduits for federal housing money for tribes under the 1937 Housing Act. The money was for established housingprograms run strictly under the rules and regs of the Department of Housing and Urban
| NAHASDA, which was passed in 1996, provided a radically different way of doing things. |
Development.NAHASDA, which was passed in 1996, provided a radically different way of doing things. Tribes were directed toleverage their housing money so it could help put more of a dent in the intractable problem of horrible housingconditions in Indian Country. And they were given more arrows in the quiver to do it with, specifically Title VI,which could help them fund project loans 95% guaranteed by the feds. And, tribes were given the authority, undertheir own status as sovereign nations, to determine how best to do this on their own.
NAIHC, in its position papers on NAHASDA, rightly says it "revolutionized" the way Indian housing wasfinanced by the government. The $5.7 billion of housing assistance voted by the Congress since fiscal 1998 hascertainly been better stretched and used than any money since IHAs started to come into existence during the 1960s.
This reauthorization contains a key component to help fight against the low success rate of housing developmentin Indian Country -- lack of money for infrastructure and for acquisition, development, and construction. Roads,water, phone lines, sewage lines -- the things we take for granted in America often aren't in place in the remoteareas where many tribes live.
Section B of the reauthorized bill allows tribes to pledge some of their housing block grant money as collateralfor infrastructure or ADC financing. The amount must be reconciled -- it's up to 10% of $1 million in the Houseversion, or up to 20% or $2 million in the Senate version, according to Wendy Helgamo of NAIHC, but it's a goodidea in either case.
Funding for NAHASDA has stagnated in recent years, and NAIHC is proposing a boost in funding to $789 million forfiscal 2009. Money for the IHBGs (Indian
| According to NAIHC, NAHASDA isn't the only underfunded instrument in Indian housing. |
Housing Block Grants) has been at about the $625 million level since FY 2005. Since estimates are that there isan immediate need for 200,000 new units of housing in Indian Country, event he higher amount will not be enough,but it is a start.But NAHASDA has been making a dent. According to Felipe Sixto, associate director for intergovernmental affairsat the White House, 50,000 housing units have been built, acquired, or rehabbed using IHBG money.
According to NAIHC, NAHASDA isn't the only underfunded instrument in Indian housing. The I-CDBG, for instance,the Indian version of the Community Development Block Grant, is in the budget for $57.4 million, down from $72million in FY 2004. NAIHC is asking for $77 million.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs' Home Improvement Program, funded at more than $20 million prior to fiscal 2003, hasbeen zeroed out in the administration's FY 2009 request. NAIHC would like to see it funded at $25 million.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development's usual Rural Housing Service loan, often used in Indian Country,has also been cut back. Section 502 direct (single-family) and Section 515 direct (multi-family) have also beenzeroed out.
HUD's Rural Housing and Economic Development program, also highly utilized by tribes, has been zeroed out as wellfor FY 2009 after being funded in previous years for as much as $25 million.
