America’s tribal lands face a housing crisis with properties overcrowded at a rate eight times higher than other U.S. households and existing homes too often dilapidated. Homeownership opportunities remain elusive with a lack of lender engagement in Indian Country in part attributed to tribal lands being held in trust and unable to be used as collateral.
The National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) advocates for housing opportunities for Native Americans and provides assistance for tribal housing professionals, research and information. One of its top priorities is the reauthorization of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA).
The federal act was first passed in 1996 but was allowed to lapse in 2013. The law provides funding for everything from community block grants to Section 184 and Title VI loan programs, which offers ways for American Indians to purchase homes.
The federal government has funded these appropriations annually at different levels, but reauthorizing the act would provide predictable funding for these homeownership needs. NAIHC’s executive director Douglas Marconi Sr. spoke to Scotsman Guide about the act, which he said is a fulfillment of the federal government’s treaty obligations, as well as other homeownership challenges in Indian Country.
You recently said Indian Country faces unique housing and economic challenges, what are those challenges?
One of the obstacles to tribal housing is location and geographical challenges. I like to say HUD is called Housing and Urban Development. Many tribal housing units are distinctively different considering our rural setting in remote areas. That brings logistical problems to plan and build our community’s infrastructure, water, sewer systems — let alone maintain housing developments once they’re built.
What can be done about that?
That’s the advocacy of work, getting in in front of Congress and working with the leadership in Congress to really show them and tell our stories, the overcrowding, substandard housing, the wear-and-tear on older housing stock. I encourage them to come visit our tribal communities, see for themselves the conditions we’re facing and have been facing for many, many years.
Why hasn’t Congress reauthorized the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act?
It’s been since 2013 that the act was reauthorized. I think there has been many challenges to the funding that they’re not quite understanding the level of need. Maybe there’s some misconception as that it’s not being used entirely. You couldn’t imagine this country operating without approved budgets, right?
How do you convince mortgage lenders to work with Native American borrowers and tribal governments?
We just mentioned the 184 Section Loan Guarantee program — that’s 100% guaranteed to lenders in helping reduce the risk to lend off tribal properties. We want to establish partnerships between the lenders and the tribes. There’s this organization called Native Communities Development Financial Institutions, a CDFI. These corporations assist and cooperate with tribes and banks and lenders.
Homeownership barriers have long plagued Indian country. Are things getting better?
We think so. We’re making strides. One of our unique things about this organization in particular because we’re here just a few blocks from the capital, we’re able to run up there in a moment’s notice if they have questions about how to implement programs or what could be done better. We’ve seen some increases specifically, to our tribal allocation of the (NAHASDA) fund. If we could see levels actually rise above a billion dollars like we have this (current fiscal) year, tribes are going to be able to do more and sustain some planning to try to build communities.
The reason the federal government has responsibility to provide funding, that’s part of the treaties that were passed?
You talk about treaty obligations and the amount of failed promises to our Indian nations across the country, it’s unfathomable. We’re there to remind them. I particularly take real deep pride in going before congressional leadership on Capitol Hill and telling the stories of our ancestors and my elders in particular, that came into Washington, D.C., flew into town to negotiate for this funding. This started happening in the late ‘40s all the way through the ‘50s and ‘60s when I started seeing pictures of my grandparents — two of them, grandfathers — coming to Washington, D.C., asking for funding levels to be adequate and reminding them of their treaty obligations.
