[Senate Hearing 118-452]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-452
STATE OF NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
BANKING,HOUSING,AND URBAN AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
EXAMINING THE STATE OF NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING
__________
JUNE 13, 2023
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available at: https: //www.govinfo.gov /
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
57-180 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
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COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio, Chair
JACK REED, Rhode Island TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
JON TESTER, Montana MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
MARK R. WARNER, Virginia THOM TILLIS, North Carolina
ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming
TINA SMITH, Minnesota J.D. VANCE, Ohio
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona KATIE BOYD BRITT, Alabama
RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK, Georgia KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania STEVE DAINES, Montana
Laura Swanson, Staff Director
Lila Nieves-Lee, Republican Staff Director
Elisha Tuku, Chief Counsel
Amber Beck, Republican Chief Counsel
Cameron Ricker, Chief Clerk
Shelvin Simmons, IT Director
Pat Lally, Assistant Clerk
______
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
TINA SMITH, Minnesota, Chair
CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming, Ranking Member
JACK REED, Rhode Island MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota
JON TESTER, Montana JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada BILL HAGERTY, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona J.D. VANCE, Ohio
RAPHAEL G. WARNOCK, Georgia KATIE BOYD BRITT, Alabama
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania
Tim Everett, Subcommittee Staff Director
Kelsey Pristach, Republican Subcommittee Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023
Page
Opening statement of Chair Smith................................. 1
Prepared statement........................................... 22
Opening statements, comments, or prepared statements of:
Senator Lummis................................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 23
WITNESSES
Chelsea Fish, Executive Director, National American Indian
Housing Council................................................ 4
Prepared statement........................................... 23
Responses to written questions of:
Senator Cortez Masto..................................... 72
Senator Lummis........................................... 72
Patrick Goggles, Executive Director, Northern Arapaho Housing
Authority...................................................... 7
Prepared statement........................................... 29
Responses to written questions of:
Senator Cortez Masto..................................... 73
Senator Lummis........................................... 73
Pete Upton, CEO, Native CDFI Network, and Executive Director,
Native360 Loan Fund............................................ 8
Prepared statement........................................... 30
Responses to written questions of:
Senator Cortez Masto..................................... 74
Senator Lummis........................................... 75
Tammy Moreland, Chairperson, Minnesota Tribal Collaborative to
Prevent and End Homelessness................................... 9
Prepared statement........................................... 69
Responses to written questions of:
Senator Cortez Masto..................................... 75
Senator Lummis........................................... 75
Additional Material Supplied for the Record
Statement submitted by the Cedar Band of Paiute Indians, Lower
Brule Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe......................... 77
Statement submitted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis... 87
Statement submitted by Cook Inlet Housing Authority.............. 93
(iii)
STATE OF NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING
----------
TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2023
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs,
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community
Development,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-538, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Tina Smith, Chair of the
Subcommittee, presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIR TINA SMITH
Chair Smith. Good afternoon. I want to call this Housing,
Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee to
order. Thank you so much to our witnesses for participating
today and thank you also to Senator Lummis and all of your team
for working us on this bipartisan hearing.
When Senator Lummis and I first met to discuss our goals
for this Subcommittee, Native housing emerged as a top priority
for both of us, and we both understand that finding affordable
housing is a challenge for every community right now, but in
Native and Tribal communities barriers to housing and home
ownership are particularly challenging. And as we know, if you
do not have a safe, decent place to call home, nothing else in
your life works, not your education, not your job, not your
family, not your health, not anything.
Native people experience this reality in very tangible and
specific ways, as Tribal leaders in Minnesota and around the
country tell me all the time. Minnesota is home to 11 sovereign
Tribal nations and large Indigenous communities in the Twin
Cities and Duluth and Bemidji, and housing challenges in Native
communities, in Minnesota and around the country, stretch
across the entire housing continuum, from the lack of emergency
shelter to a shortage of home ownership opportunities on Tribal
lands. People struggle to get mortgages and appraisals and
title insurance. If you own a home, keeping it in good repair
can be difficult because of a shortage of contractors and
skilled tradespeople. Tribal communities are often rural and
remote which adds to the cost of infrastructure like water and
sewer.
These issues are common in rural communities, but they are
exacerbated on Tribal land. Leased land and trust land each
come with their own challenges. Mortgage lending on trust land
can mean months or sometimes even years of administrative
delays, working through the BIA, and many lenders just will not
do business at all on trust lands.
Mortgages on leased lands can also face lengthy
administrative delays. Senator Rounds and I partnered on a bill
to take the first step on fixing these problems 3 years ago,
and earlier this year Senator Rounds and Senator Thune and
Senator Tester and I introduce a bill to take the next step in
addressing these delays.
In addition, much of the housing stock on Tribal land is
substandard and needs significant repair. Homes lack full
plumbing, complete kitchens, and sufficient heating. According
to HUD study, housing in Tribal lands is about six times more
likely to have heating or plumbing deficiencies in comparison
to the rest of the country. Repairs and maintenance are
expensive, so many Tribes end up spending scarce Federal
housing dollars maintaining existing housing rather than
building the additional units that are needed to meet demand.
The result is unsafe homes that can sit vacant and boarded up,
even as the demand for housing is increasing.
So even with recent increases, inflation-adjusted funding
for the Indian Housing Block Grant is well below where it was
25 years ago, and well below what I believe is needed to meet
the trust and treaty obligations of the Federal Government for
housing in Native communities.
Housing shortages and homelessness are experienced on
Tribal land when families crowd into homes not nearly big
enough for all the people living there. This is sometimes
called ``doubling up,'' which could suggest a relative sleeping
on a couch or sharing a bedroom, but in practice overcrowding
can be much more intense, with reports of 15 or even 20 people
sharing a two-bedroom home. Native communities have strong
cultural traditions of not letting relatives go without a place
to stay when you have a house to share, and I can tell you in
cold climates like Minnesota and Wyoming, sleeping outside can
be deadly.
In May of 2021, in my first hearing as Chair of this
Subcommittee, we held a hearing on Native housing issues, and
we heard about the need for more supportive housing that
combines shelter with culturally specific programming to
support Native people experiencing homelessness. In my home
State of Minnesota, Native Americans account for 13 percent of
people experiencing homelessness, despite being only about 1
percent of the State's overall population. Without culturally
specific programming and trauma-informed systems, Native people
living with homelessness struggle to get access to the services
and the stable housing that they need.
We have also heard about the importance of reauthorizing
the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination
Act, or NAHASDA. This was last updated in 2014, and it is far
past time that that important bipartisan legislation that will
cut red tape for housing development in Native communities
better uphold our promises to Native veterans and put a stop to
drug use and violent crime. I am very grateful to Senator
Schatz and Senator Murkowski for leading this effort in the
last Congress, and I look forward to working with them to
finally get this done.
So I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about
what we are doing that is working, what is not working, what
needs reform, and what needs more support. These are issues of
bipartisan interest and places where we have demonstrated the
capacity to work together. So I look forward to building on
that shared sense of purpose and progress so that we can make
progress on issues for Native communities.
So thank you very much, and I now turn to Senator Lummis
for her opening statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS
Senator Lummis. Thank you, Madame Chairwoman, and thank you
to our witnesses for joining us today.
I especially want to thank Mr. Patrick Goggles for being
here today. Mr. Goggles brings vast knowledge and experience
working on Tribal housing. His resume is very impressive,
currently serving as the Executive Director of the Northern
Arapaho Tribal Housing Authority. Mr. Goggles formerly served
in the Wyoming State Legislature and on the Northern Arapaho
Business Council. Thanks so much, Patrick, for being here.
And I want to thank to the rest of the witnesses as well.
The expertise on this panel is exceptional.
In my State of Wyoming, we have two federally recognized
Tribes, the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone. Both Tribes
share the Wind River Reservation. The Wind River Reservation is
the seventh-largest American Indian reservation in size and
fifth-largest in population. Lack of safe, affordable, and
available housing impacts communities across Wyoming, but
especially on the Wind River Reservation. The housing gap has
widened as the demand for housing is outpacing new
construction.
In many cases, as the Chairwoman mentioned,
multigenerational families are overcrowded in homes. These
homes often have serious plumbing and electrical problems and
are in dire need of repair.
Congress has provided funding for Native American housing
programs for several decades. Tribes and tribally designated
housing entities use the funding for a range of affordable
housing activities to benefit low-income Tribal households.
This includes developing new housing for rental or home
ownership, maintaining and operating existing housing units,
building infrastructure, and offering housing-related services.
So I look forward to your advice and counsel on all of
these issues.
Additionally, want to talk about the uniquenesses of
working with Indian trust lands. On trust lands, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs must process and certify mortgages issued by
Federal agencies and lenders. In some cases, the BIA has taken
months to process mortgages. It creates particular problems in
areas that have Tribal trust lands available but do not have
fee ownership land available.
That is why I have cosponsored the Tribal Trust Land
Homeownership Act with Chairwoman Smith, to create deadlines
that BIA must meet for processing title documents. If you have
other issues you want to raise about how that legislation could
improve the delivery of services in this area please let us
know.
I, along with several Members of this Subcommittee, are
members of the Senate Community Development Financial
Institutions Caucus. The Caucus is a platform to address the
needs of CDFIs so that they have the resources to serve their
communities. I believe CDFIs are a wise investment to multiply
our Federal dollars for maximum impact.
In closing, our witnesses today provide unique perspectives
on the state of Native American housing, and I look forward to
hearing your testimony. I thank you again for being here, and I
am looking forward to learning ways to ensure Tribal housing
needs are met.
Thank you, Madam Chairman. I yield back.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much. I will now introduce our
witnesses, and thank you, Senator Lummis, for introducing Mr.
Goggles. Welcome to the Committee, Mr. Goggles.
In addition I would like to introduce Chelsea Fish, who is
Executive Director of the National American Indian Housing
Council. Ms. Fish is a citizen of the Seminole Nation of
Oklahoma. For over 15 years she has worked at the national
level to address socioeconomic concerns on behalf of Tribal
communities on issues ranging from Tribal gaming and Native
small businesses to health and food sovereignty. Ms. Fish
earned her bachelor of science in health education with an
emphasis on public health from the University of District of
Columbia. She is originally from Tishomingo, Oklahoma--I said
that correct, I hope--and currently lives with her family in
Washington, DC. Welcome.
Pete Upton is the CEO of the Native CDFI Network, and
Executive Director of the Native360 Loan Fund. Mr. Upton is a
member of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. He serves CEO, as I
said, of the Native CDFI Network, which represents Native CDFIs
around the country. In addition, Mr. Upton is the Executive
Director of the Native360 Loan Fund, a certified Native CDFI
supporting Native American business owners in Nebraska, Iowa,
and South Dakota.
And joining us virtually is Tammy Moreland, who is Chair of
the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative to Prevent and End
Homelessness. Ms. Moreland is a member of the Mille Lacs Band
of Ojibwe. She currently serves as the Chair of the Minnesota
Tribal Collaborative, which was formed by Minnesota Tribal
Nations in 2014 to understand, prevent, and end homelessness of
Native People's in Minnesota.
In addition to her role with the Minnesota Tribal
Collaborative, Ms. Moreland is a longtime employee of Tribal
Family Services and public health departments.
We will begin with our in-person witnesses and then turn to
Ms. Moreland, and for witnesses you each have 5 minutes for
your opening statements. Each of you, I think, have a clock in
front of you to help you stay oriented to that, and your full
written statement will be made part of the record.
Ms. Fish, you are recognized for your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF CHELSEA FISH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL
AMERICAN INDIAN HOUSING COUNCIL
Ms. Fish. [Speaks Native language.] Hi. My name is Chelsea
Fish. Did you make it through the night OK? I hope you did.
I am the Executive Director of the National American Indian
Housing Council. As Senator Smith mentioned, I am a member of
the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and originally from a very
small town called Tishomingo in southeastern Oklahoma, in one
of the poorest counties of the State, Johnston County.
We grew up living in a very overcrowded home in my family.
We lived just off of a dirt road, and there were ab out 20 of
us at any given time nestled into my grandmother's home on our
original trust land, that was heated by a wood stove.
The National American Indian Housing Council was created by
Tribal housing programs back in 1974, and for over five decades
we have provided invaluable training and technical assistance
to all Tribes, Tribal housing entities, and to Congress. We
represent 293 members, all of which are federally recognized,
and represent 493 Tribal housing organizations, all of whom are
constituents of this Congress.
Ladies and gentlemen, I really appreciate the opportunity
to deliver this message on behalf of Tribal communities this
afternoon. It really is an outstanding opportunity for me,
coming from the background that I do, just a small little
country girl from the middle of nowhere, or so I thought.
Thank you for allowing this opportunity. I stand before you
to shed light on a very pressing issue, and that issue is
housing in Native American communities and here in the United
States. It is uncanny how unaware that people are of the
housing conditions on Tribal territories and reservations.
Every day I talk to people who are completely oblivious to some
of the amounts of poverty and impoverished situations, and
really the downtrodden situations that we find on Indian
reservations. It is like nowhere else.
Despite the progress made in recent decades, many Tribal
communities continue to face the significant challenges of
poverty, including substandard housing, overcrowding, and
homelessness. The median income of a Native American household
is 30 percent less than the national average.
Native American communities also experience higher rates of
substandard housing with a significant number of homes lacking
complete plumbing, kitchen, and sufficient heating. I will say
that again--significant amount of homes. We are looking at 15.9
percent of homes being overcrowded compared to only 2.2
nationally.
The lack of adequate housing in Indian Country is a direct
result of insufficient funding and resources. The Native
American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act was
enacted in 1996, and it was a step in the right direction, but
Congress has failed to fulfill its trust obligation and really
has been neglectful of the Tribal community, by keeping funding
stagnant for more than 20 years.
The purchasing power of these funds, allocated for what we
know as the Indian Housing Block Grant, which is the mechanism
for getting money out to the Tribes for developing housing, has
diminished significantly due to inflation, leading to a rapid
decline in new housing construction. Since 1998, Tribal housing
programs have lost $3.4 billion in funding by not keeping up
with inflation, compared to our sister program, the National
Public Housing Program.
To address the housing crisis in Indian Country we need
Congress to increase funding, and we plead with Congress to
increase this funding in NAHASDA. The current funding levels
are inadequate, many Tribes receiving less than $500,000 to
operate their housing programs. Tribes simply cannot build more
homes with such limited funding. Our geographical challenges
alone, including isolation, the lack of developed housing,
inaccessible lending markets only exacerbate this problem.
Reauthorizing NAHASDA is crucial. We need an increased
amount of resources and programmatic changes that streamline
our housing programs. This reauthorization bill contains
provisions that can enhance Tribal access to finding, simply
various aspects of HUD and the Indian Housing Block Grant
program.
Tribes need the flexibility to tailor their housing plans
to their specific needs and priorities. An example of this
flexibility is the prioritization of funds. As Senator Smith
mentioned, Indians and Native Americans will not allow our
elders and our needy and our vulnerable persons to go without.
They will be prioritized, so a lot of our funds go to the
prioritization of housing for elderly, and that leaves mothers
of children, single mothers of children, parents whose children
are going into the homes of family members, and so on and so
forth, without.
I would like to highlight a couple of examples to
illustrate the current housing situation in Native American
communities. In Nulato, Alaska, which is a remote village with
no roads leading in or out, there is need for nearly 20 homes.
The population is Nulato is just over 200. But the estimated
cost of construction of a single-family home is over $670,000.
The current income level at the NAHASDA rate in Nulato only
allows for 29 percent of a home to be built in one single year.
Similarly, the Comanche Nation Housing Authority in
Oklahoma focuses on rehabilitating existing homes due to
limited funding. There are resources available from various
funding Federal agencies, including HUD, U.S. Treasury, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Veterans Administration. However,
Tribes often face enormous barriers in accessing these
resources.
Some of these programs have requirements in them that do
not honor and respect Tribal sovereignty and self-determination
by forcing them to collaborate with other community-based
organizations to have pass-through access to the resources.
But moreover, home ownership remains a significant
challenge in Indian Country. As we all just discussed in our
opening, Federal trust land cannot be used to secure a home
loan, and lenders see doing business with Tribes a risk. There
is no incentive for lenders to do business with Tribal nations
or Tribal citizens. There are no penalties for doing so either.
Native borrowers----
Chair Smith. I am so sorry to interrupt you, Ms. Fish. You
are about 2 minutes over, so if you could wrap up we will be
able to get at the rest of your comments in our questions as
well.
Ms. Fish. It says I have 2 minutes, 30 seconds remaining.
Chair Smith. No. That is how much you are over.
Ms. Fish. I am sorry.
Chair Smith. That is OK.
Ms. Fish. I apologize.
Chair Smith. No worries. No worries.
Ms. Fish. It is the responsibility of this Committee and
Congress to fulfill its treaty obligations to Tribal nations
and restore NAHASDA. Thank you very much.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much.
Mr. Goggles.
STATEMENT OF PATRICK GOGGLES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORTHERN
ARAPAHO HOUSING AUTHORITY
Mr. Goggles. Good afternoon. Chair Smith and Vice Chair
Lummis, for the record my name is W. Patrick Goggles. I am the
Executive Director of Northern Arapaho Tribal Housing, and we
are located on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
I want to get started with the things that we came here to
talk about, and that is, first and foremost in mind, is the
reauthorization of the Native American Housing Assistance and
Self-Determination Act of 1996. And the reason that it concerns
me is, like any other community in Wyoming or in Minnesota, the
flow of funds into your community help you plan, develop, and
implement those types of, in my case, housing projects. I have
one current project that I have been working on for 6 years. It
is $9.1 million, and I will be completing that project in
September of 2023. But it has taken me 6 years to do that.
And so it is important that we reauthorization the funding
streams that we receive through NAHASDA to allow us to do those
strategic types of planning that help us plan the types of
affordable housing that we are going to construct. Not only
that but looking forward to home ownership for many Federal
members.
And just real quickly, I manage 234 houses. Some of my
houses are overcrowded, unsuitable crowding. I have one 5-
bedroom house that has 27 people in it, and I have another 3-
bedroom house that has 15 people in it. The overcrowding is
acute. The shortage of housing on our reservation is very
acute. There are no private ownerships of individual family
homes on the Wind River Indian Reservation currently. And that
is my take on NAHASDA because it will help provide us with an
added allocation that we plan with.
Just so you understand what my director said, the
unemployment rate on my reservation is 35 percent, and getting
the kind of incomes to afford to make a house payment, it is
very difficult to do that.
A few years ago, Congress first funded the Competitive
Indian Housing Block Grant to allow Tribes and their housing
entities to apply for development funds. They are not included
in the regular IHBC, Indian Housing Block Grant. These are
competitive funds that we apply for. And the experience has
been the larger Tribes and the medium Tribes and the smaller
Tribes is not a level playing field.
I cannot afford to have an engineer on my staff. An
engineer is worth their weight in gold in helping you determine
how you are going to build on your Tribal lands. We have gaming
revenue on our reservation, but that goes for the other needs
that our Tribe has such as social services, and Human Services
such as dealing with the addictions of meth and fentanyl on our
reservation. So those are real-life kinds of things that we
deal with because we are in a rural, isolated community.
My other folks that I represent, because I am Region V
representative for Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah, and the
other Region III, North and South Dakota and Nebraska, are
really isolated with large land-based Tribes. So many of our
reservations experience the lack of essential services such as
fire prevention such as EMT service. In our neck of the woods,
law and order is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and you can have
response times up to 30 minutes to 2 hours, waiting for an EMT
or a police officer to arrive on the scene. By the time they
show up, you know, other incidents have occurred.
So I wanted to say that much. I know my 5 minutes went
pretty fast, but I want to answer some of your questions with
some more additional information for you. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much, Mr. Goggles.
Mr. Upton.
STATEMENT OF PETE UPTON, CEO, NATIVE CDFI NETWORK, AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIVE360 LOAN FUND
Mr. Upton. Thank you, Chair Smith and Ranking Member Lummis
and the Subcommittee for this opportunity to present today.
My name is Pete Upton, and I am an enrolled citizen of the
Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, and I am the CEO of the Native CDFI
Network, and I keep my feet grounded in the work that I do. I
am the Executive Director of Native360 Loan Fund, and we serve
Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, and Kansas. On behalf of the
Native CDFI Network and the 90 certified and emerging Native
CDFIs we serve, I welcome the opportunity to present about the
capital access challenges facing Native home ownership and the
pivotal role that Native CDFIs play in addressing those
challenges and what Congress can do to enhance the Native
CDFI's ability to home ownership.
Despite recent progress by Native CDFIs, the challenges
facing Native home ownership remains severe. Native communities
and Native CDFIs face numerous challenges in providing home
loans to Native communities. The challenges include access to
low-interest, long-term funding for Native CDFIs, the scarcity
of availability of housing stock, the lack of infrastructure
and skilled workers which further hampers the construction and
renovation of homes. Land issues, including limited
availability, complex structures also pose hurdles for
expanding housing opportunities for the Native populations.
These multifaceted challenges highlight the need for targeted
support and innovation solutions addressing the housing needs
in Indian Country. And I want to stress innovative solutions
and targeted support, and I will get into that when we get into
the questions.
The state of affairs is challenging, but there is an
effective solution, and that is Native CDFIs when it comes to
Native home ownerships. Native CDFIs are proven irreplaceable
engines for growing vibrant Native economies. According to the
Treasury, for every dollar invested in CDFIs they create $8 in
private sector investments.
Our impact is particularly significant in the area of
Native home ownership, where Native CDFIs are playing a
crucial. Native CDFIs provide affordable home loans, assistance
with downpayments, homebuyer education, Native communities who
have been overlooked by the traditional lenders. Native CDFIs
are there to provide the support. By offering specialized
financial products, comprehensive technical support, and
extensive community engagement, we are expanding access to
affordable home ownership opportunities within Native
communities.
Simply put, Native CDFIs need the support from Congress to
grow its capacity to meet the moment. We have identified six
key ways Congress can strengthen Native home ownership and the
vital role Native CDFIs play in the endeavor.
First, support us in ensuring that proposed Native CDFI
certification reforms do not harm Native CDFIs. The ongoing
reform process of CDFI certification application and
regulations by the CDFI Fund pose challenges for Native CDFIs.
The proposed changes could hinder their ability to promote home
ownership and economic progress in Indian Country.
Native CDFIs would either need to make drastic operational
changes or alter their programs and products, or forego
certification, resulting in reduced access to vital capital for
serving their Native community. We urge Congress to address our
concerns by advocating for a formal listening session with the
CDFI Fund and the Native CDFI leaders, executive directors, to
discuss and address the potential impacts of these reforms.
Second, establish a Native Advisory Committee within
Treasury and the CDFI Fund. This committee should be made up of
Native CDFI executive leaders that would engage directly with
Treasury and the CDFI Fund and provide valuable input on how
policy and programs impact the flow of capital to communities
and listen to the Native CDFIs who are the boots on the ground
in the community, doing the work. Congress should mandate that
Treasury establish a Native Advisory Committee made up of CDFI
executive directors, and that committee would meet at least
annually with the Treasury Secretary and the CDFI director.
Third, increase NACA appropriations to $50 million. Capital
is needed to provide long-term, low-interest funding for
homeowners, Native American homeowners.
And fourth, increase the annual funding of the HUD Section
4 to $50 million and establish a 10 percent set-aside for
Native communities.
Fifth, pass the Rural Housing Reform Act.
And finally, pass the Native American Direct Loan Home Act.
And I want to conclude by thanking the Congress and this
Subcommittee and encouraging you to maintain a relationship and
a collaboration with Native CDFI leaders in developing funding
of innovative policies that address the capital needs of Indian
Country.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much.
And last we will hear from Ms. Tammy Moreland, who is
joining us virtually.
STATEMENT OF TAMMY MORELAND, CHAIRPERSON, MINNESOTA TRIBAL
COLLABORATIVE TO PREVENT AND END HOMELESSNESS
Ms. Moreland. Aanii Boozhoo, Niigaanii Animikii Benesi Ikwe
ninidizhizikaaz, Migizi nindoodem, Odawa Anishinaabe Kwe
ndawaa, Wiikwewang nindonjiibaa.
My Government name is Tammy Moreland. I have a small
correction. I am a Tribal member of the Grand Traverse Band of
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. I work for the Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe in central Minnesota, and I work for the
Aanjibimaadizing Program. I have the honor and the
responsibility of chairing the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative
to prevent and end homelessness, which is a tribally initiated
and innovative approach to address housing and homelessness for
American Indians in Minnesota.
I am honored to appear before you today to talk about the
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative's work to ending homelessness to
State and Federal change. Thank you, Senator Smith, for calling
this hearing and inviting me to testify on behalf of the
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative.
The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative was funded in 2014, when
a group of Tribal Housing and Human Services staff in northern
and central Minnesota began to meet together with other
supporting organizations to learn from each other about new
resources and ideas for promising practices that help meet the
unique needs of American Indians experiencing homelessness.
In addition to the direct services that it provides, the
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has a strong advocacy for
reforming State and Federal law. We have been successful
lobbying for changes to State and Federal law because of our
first-hand experience with homelessness and its root causes and
because we never give up. The reform to the Federal law that
the collaborative has accomplished with Senator Tina Smith and
other allies on Capitol Hill means that not only Minnesota
Tribes will have access to increased Federal funding support
but hundreds of Tribes throughout the United States will also
be able to access those increased resources for our shared
mission to reduce homelessness in Indian communities.
In Minnesota, American Indians are more than 12 times more
likely to experience homelessness and to be homeless longer
than the white population. The most recent reservation homeland
study, conducted in 2018, found that half of the people
homeless on reservations were children, youth, and elders. Most
people met the definition of a chronic or long-term homeless,
and nearly half of the people surveyed had a chronic health
condition that impacted their ability to work or find housing.
Our collaborative is successful because the Minnesota
Tribal Collaborative are fearless. We usually take the hard way
and not the easy way to accomplish our goals, and our goals are
not just for us, but we look forward several generations. The
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative wants future generations to know
that we came together with leaders to write new rules for
society about how to thrive together. We experienced immense
challenges, but in the end we succeeded. We want future
generations to know that this was a powerful generation that
rose from adversities, and we gave them legacies and resources
to take inspiration from. We want them to look at us with
courage, as we went through a difficult period of triumph and
struggle. We hope they will talk about us as examples to
emulate, as something to be, and to go onward to the future
with.
We want to end homelessness in our communities. The members
of the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative always show up, we
challenge the status quo, and we hold ourselves and other
accountable for change. We have made changes, significant
changes, and we intend to make more. We believe that nothing
about us should happen without us, and we push to be part of
meetings, funding, trainings, and we always insist that our
voices are heard.
For the Tribes to be successful in ending homelessness,
both on and off the reservation, we ask the following from
Congress. I have five points, but due to time I am only going
to mention one. We ask that you support Tribal efforts to end
homelessness among Tribal members as they move between the
reservation and urban communities. Federal policies have pushed
American Indians into and out of reservation communities for
decades. This destruction in community life is one of the root
causes of homelessness.
Today the Federal Government should support Tribes' efforts
to meet the needs of Tribal members where they are today. This
is a Federal Government problem that can be solved by Tribes
and the Federal Government working together.
Miigwetch. Thank you for your time, and by partnering
together and sharing resources, we can end homelessness for
America's first people. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Thank you so much. Thanks to all of our
witnesses for your testimony today.
We will now move to a 5-minute round of questions from
Members of the Committee, and I defer to Senator Tester from
Montana to begin.
Senator Tester. Well, I want to thank the Chair, and I also
want to thank all the folks who testified here today. I
appreciate it very much.
You know, it has always been very, very difficult to get
NAHASDA passed, and it is something that is very, very
important, and we need to get it funded at a level that will
work.
I agree with you, Ms. Fish. People do not understand the
housing challenges in Indian Country. Many folks back here do
not understand the trust responsibilities we have to Native
Americans. They are special to Native Americans. And I do think
that the housing goes hand-in-hand with those responsibilities.
I have also said that if we really want to address any issue--I
do not care if it is schools, law enforcement, housing, the
list is quite long, especially for those large land-based
Tribes--then we need to figure out ways to empower Tribes to do
that and support them in their efforts.
One of the ways that was supposed to do that is through
HUD's Training and Technical Assistance Program, ensuring that
Tribes are knowledgeable and able to make housing decisions for
their communities. It is not easy work.
I have heard from Tribes in Montana who have had difficulty
in accessing the technical assistance system as it is currently
implemented by Housing and Urban Development. So this question
is for you, Ms. Fish, and you can add in, Mr. Goggles, Mr.
Upton, Ms. Moreland, if you would like.
NAIHC runs a Technical Assistance Training Program for
Tribal housing entities. From your perspective, what needs to
be done to improve training and technical assistance to Tribes
that are utilizing those HUD dollars, to really make a
difference getting housing in Indian Country?
Ms. Fish. Thank you, Senator Tester. One of the ways that
we have explored developing an efficacious technical assistance
delivery system is to return to the way that our technical
assistance funding was passed down to the National American
Indian Housing Council. We currently work off of a cooperative
agreement. The process for receiving technical assistance
assignments, invoicing for that technical assistance is very
burdensome. The administrative process alone, working through
this mechanism, I have two staff members that predominantly do
this work, working in the DRGR, working with the different
operational systems that HUD has in place, working with their
Office of Procurement. OPM is very difficult. Getting contracts
passed that support the technical assistance delivery is very
difficult, working through that mechanism.
And so we have explored the option to return to the old
way, which was where we received a grant, and we were able to
receive the technical assistance requests directly and then
deliver the technical assistance. In the same stroke or in the
same step, we are also able to develop best practices, case
studies and do our own research in a very streamlined way.
There you go.
Senator Tester. Good. Would anybody else like to comment?
Mr. Goggles.
Mr. Goggles. Senator Tester, thank you. TNTA at the
National American Indian housing level works. I can attest to
that. I have 13 years of unmodified opinions on my financial
compliance audits. So we are good stewards of the Federal
assistance and Uncle Sam's dollar. It impacts how we deliver
services to our clientele. So I know the TNTA works. When we
had it before at NAIHC we had folks coming to our reservation
without too much of a bureaucratic system in place. Now it is
more having a couple of folks that you have to jump through
some hoops for. But getting that service to us, getting out the
grantees helps them understand Federal regulation, like 2 CFR,
understanding Native American Housing and Self-Determination
Act, understanding the eligible activities that you can
participate in, and the kinds of activities under the Indian
Communities Development Block Grant Program.
Senator Tester. OK. And really quickly, and it is for you,
Mr. Upton, you listed a half a dozen things that we could do in
Congress. Could you give me your number one issue, of those
six?
Mr. Upton. Of the six would be to increase appropriations
for the NACA program. It was stagnant from 2014 to roughly 2020
at $16 million. There are 72 Native CDFIs, and it is up to
approximately $23 million now. Fifty million is what we need,
and that would make a huge impact, especially if we are going
to make Native CDFIs 184 lenders, we need capital.
Senator Tester. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator Tester.
Senator Lummis.
Senator Lummis. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Mr. Goggles, you mentioned it took 6 years to jump through
all the hoops necessary to get your now September 2023 project
to this point. Could you describe some of those hoops, and how
can we help cut that down, the amount of time?
Mr. Goggles. Vice Chair Lummis, one of the areas has been
the working relationship with the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Realty Department. It took me approximately 2 years to master-
lease the subdivision metes and bounds of the survey that we
did, plus 2 years of delay from the pandemic. So it took me
about 4 years to obtain the leasing authority through the
Bureau of Indian Affairs. Currently they are understaffed.
There are only two people in the Realty Division at the Wind
River agency. So that is one of the challenges is getting the
land.
The other challenge is when we develop a project,
infrastructure is always one-third of our development cost. At
the Chief Black Coal project, $9.1 million total, and $2
million is for infrastructure. And putting that infrastructure
according to Federal regulation, according to ONAP and HUD
regulations, under the Indian Housing Block Grant, under the
Indian Community Development Block Grant, and the use of
community facilities from USGA, each one has its own set of
regulations.
Senator Lummis. Yeah. That is so embarrassing.
Mr. Goggles. So navigating these regulatory requirements
requires experience. It requires training, like we were talking
about TNTA. Everybody's shop does their own thing.
The third is environmental reviews.
Senator Lummis. Are those houses on well and septic?
Mr. Goggles. We are developing this project with domestic
water, domestic wastewater and drainage. Individual homesites
use the septic system and cisterns when they are developing,
even out in the country, and there are 2\1/2\ acres generally.
What I have leased for a subdivision is about 20 acres. For 20
homes, the cost is part of that, for the 10 units that I am
building, that are 3-bedroom, $252,000 apiece, for the 10.
Four-bedrooms, $267,000 apiece. These are manufactured housing
units.
Senator Lummis. Geez.
Mr. Goggles. Yep.
Senator Lummis. And it was earlier mentioned, numbers like
$600,000. I cannot remember who said that.
Mr. Goggles. That is in Alaska.
Senator Lummis. Oh, in Alaska.
Mr. Goggles. In Alaska, just talking to my colleagues in
that area, there are two seasons up there. That is the season
that they play basketball and the other is for getting
materials up there in a timely manner so you can construct a
house.
So two very different methods of building, in the Northern
Plains, Great Plains of our area versus Alaska, they are very
different. In the Southwest you find very different methods as
well.
Senator Lummis. Can you see ways that we could fold the
programs you mentioned into one and streamline it?
Mr. Goggles. Under the Indian Community Development Block
Grant program we could make that program more flexible, that it
could fund infrastructure. One of the areas that I am working
on is redevelopment of streets. They have not been repaired or
rebuilt since the time they were first put in by HUD. And now
that I have taken over, I am having difficulties just preparing
streets.
This last winter, we were using our monies to provide snow
removal services because of an extremely harsh winter.
Senator Lummis. Extremely harsh.
Mr. Goggles. Extremely harsh winter. So the Indian
Community Development Block Grant, making that program more
flexible. And the Indian Housing Block Grant as well. You know,
we can use these funds to develop infrastructure and fund
development at the same time.
Senator Lummis. What if you find a house that needs
plumbing and electrical upgrades, and heating upgrades? Are
there programs that are easily accessible to take care of those
needs?
Mr. Goggles. Senator Lummis, under our Indian Housing Block
Grant we repair and rehab and modernize housing. Some of the
housing stock I have now is about 40 years old. So when you get
into that house you are going to repair electrical because back
40 years ago we did not have the electrical devices we have
now. And the houses need two bathrooms, not just one. So you
are looking at the modernization of houses so they have at
least two bathrooms. And in the case of the pandemic, you could
quarantine a family in that type of house with two bathrooms.
Senator Lummis. Yeah, good point. Thank you, Mr. Goggles. I
appreciate it.
Mr. Goggles. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Senator Lummis, if you have additional
questions you would like to ask so you do not break up your
flow, please go right ahead.
Senator Lummis. OK, great. Thank you.
Ms. Fish, what reforms do you think are necessary to
improve NAIHC?
Ms. Fish. I just want to clarify, the National American
Indian Housing Council?
Senator Lummis. I guess I have the wrong acronym. What is
it--NAHASDA?
Ms. Fish. NAHASDA?
Senator Lummis. I am sorry. I get the acronyms mixed up. I
intended to say NAHASDA.
Ms. Fish. We simply need to get this legislation passed.
That is the first grand step is simply passing the legislation.
Senator Lummis. OK. Mr. Upton, how are Native Community
Development Financial Institutions providing support to
prospective Native homeowners?
Mr. Upton. You know, first of all, I think they are being
innovative with the products that they design, and also they
are really focusing efforts in collaborative ways, statewide
and regionally, by developing collaborations of Native CDFIs.
They provide support when it comes to Native home ownership.
That is where Native CDFIs come into play.
Senator Lummis. But do they work on Tribal trust lands, or
can it only work on fee land?
Mr. Upton. No. I was just up in South Dakota last week and
this was interesting. Of the 86 related loans that were closed
last year, totaling $7 million in South Dakota, CDFIs made up
85 percent of the lending, and those were acquisitions, 39
homes, 9 homes were newly constructed, and 7 were interim
construction, and 24 rehabs. But Native CDFIs made up the
lending portion of that, 85 percent of it came from Native
CDFIs.
Senator Lummis. Thank you. And then a quick question for
Ms. Moreland. Do you find there is data available to accurately
determine housing needs on and off the reservation?
Ms. Moreland. I believe that there is a start, at least in
Minnesota, for collecting the data. Minnesota has worked with
Wilder Research, and they do a reservation-specific survey, and
this is the year that we are doing it. We are going to be doing
it toward the end of this year. And we will be able to collect
that data. We have been working with Wilder since about 2006,
so we do have some data that is available.
One of the innovative things with the data that we collect
with Wilder is Wilder has respected Tribal sovereignty, and the
data that is collected is owned by each Tribe, and the Tribe
will decide how they would like to disperse that information
and use that information. So it is not data that is being
collected by non-Natives, used in a non-Native way. The Tribes
own their data.
Senator Lummis. Thank you. And this question is for anyone
who wishes to weigh in. Are there special programs for Native
American veterans to obtain housing, and who administers those
and how are they working? Ms. Fish.
Ms. Fish. Thank you for the question, Senator Lummis. Yes,
there are programs that allow access to housing for Native
American veterans. One bill that is out there right now that
was introduced by Congressman Tom Cole is the Tribal HUD-VASH,
which is a result of a demonstration program allowing vouchers
to be used for the subsidization of housing for veterans. And
it has worked very well, and we are looking at, in the future,
being able to transition those into home ownership as well.
Another program that allows for home ownership and purchase
is run out of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Senator Lummis. Veterans Affairs. OK.
Mr. Upton. Could I comment on that one?
Senator Lummis. Yes, please, and then I will yield back.
Mr. Upton. OK. The other bill that I think that really
needs the support is the Native American Direct Loan
Improvement Act. It is Senate bill 185, as part of the five
veteran bills that went to the floor on April 26, 2023, and
unfortunately failed. But it would create $5 million of
relending program that would allow Native CDFIs who intimately
understand Native communities and the mortgage lending process
on Tribal trust properties to obtain a loan through the Native
American Direct Loan Program at 1 percent interest and allow
veterans to use the program to refinance non-VA mortgages so
that Native veterans have the same opportunity as non-Native
veterans to use their VA benefits to refinance existing
mortgage loans. So that one would be extremely important to
pass.
Senator Lummis. Thank you, witnesses.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much.
We are now going to turn to Senator Cortez Masto, from
Nevada, who is asking her questions remotely.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks to the
Ranking Member as well.
It has been a great discussion and I could not agree more
with my colleagues, and the need to pass NAHASDA and so many
other essential housing bills that we can to support Tribal
housing.
Let me ask a question that has not been asked yet, around
manufactured homes, because I know there is a lot of support in
Nevada, and really across the country, where I see a third of
new homes on Tribal lands are manufactured homes. And Ms. Fish,
let me ask you this question. One, why is there that popularity
in Tribal homes? Are there financing issues associated with
these Tribal homes, and are there programs, including CDFI
funds, that help home buyers finance a manufactured home?
So maybe, Ms. Fish, let me start with you.
Ms. Fish. I want to respond and give you an example of the
Rosebud Sioux Tribe with the manufacturing of homes. So in the
'60s there was a Tribal housing program that created
transitional housing for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Tribal
citizens. They were living in downtrodden circumstances and
living in shacks and tents. So they were transitioned into this
temporary housing.
Then, in the late '60s, you had something called Sioux 400,
which built 400, 2-bedroom houses that now have three to four
families living in them. In the '70s and '80s, there were
approximately 1,200 or 1,160 homes created, and that is the
stock of housing that the Rosebud Sioux Tribe now uses in their
formulated Indian Housing Block Grant. They have since
purchased, to your point, a housing plant. They purchased that
12 years ago, and now plan to use ARPA funds to supplement the
manufacturing of 100 new homes in the next 2 years. In addition
to that, they used ARPA funds to furnish kitchens and develop
innovative kitchen designs that folks would be able to have
shared spaces that would accommodate eating at a table, and so
on and so forth.
I do not know the details around the CDFI network and their
support of manufactured homes, but I do know that they----
Senator Cortez Masto. ----single-family construction homes.
Is that right?
Ms. Fish. Yes.
Senator Cortez Masto. OK. I would be curious, because I
know this is an option that should be considered. But I also
understand, and I am grateful that the ARPA funds and other
appropriations that we have identified have helped. But I am
curious how the financing comes together, if CDFI can be a part
of it.
And then let me just put on your radar, there is a new HUD
program called Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for
Community Enhancement Grant Program, called PRICE. It was
included in the Appropriations Bill, and it provided $225
million in grants to assist manufactured home communities
already existing, to repair their sewer and water, to fix the
roads, to support flood mitigation. I am curious if the Tribes
have taken advantage of those funds or are even aware of those
funds that are eligible. And they are only there for a short
period of time.
So those are two questions. Let me throw those out there.
And maybe, Mr. Upton, CDFI. Is there an option for that
financing to come to help manufactured homes?
Mr. Upton. You know, again, the challenge with Native CDFIs
is it is underfunded for the last 10 to 15 years, especially
for the appropriations under the NACA program. Currently,
again, it is about $23 to $23 million, and we have the
appropriations to increase to $50 million. And by being able to
leverage private dollars with that, that would make a
significant impact.
Manufactured housing is a product that Native CDFIs would
finance, but 9 times out of 10, before I came on this trip I
reached out to probably 20 to 30 Native CDFIs, and the No. 1
challenge was the lack of capital. We do not have the capital.
And I know in the HUD Section 184 it was, well, they are
wanting to make CDFIs lenders. Well, we cannot be lenders
without the appropriate capital. You know, you are inviting us
to a game that we cannot play.
Senator Cortez Masto. So has the Federal Home Loan Bank
system, in your area, are they providing advancements or
support for housing, particularly in Tribal communities? I am
curious.
Mr. Upton. You know, in our particular area we are
multistate. I am not an expert on what they provide, but I do
know it is very limited when it comes to Native CDFIs.
Senator Cortez Masto. Yeah, and that is a problem. And
listen, we see it. I know my time is running out and I
appreciate it, Madam Chairwoman. But we have seen the benefits
through the CARES Act, through the American Rescue Plan,
through ARPA, where we actually carve out and focus on set-
asides for our Tribal communities, and I think it is so
important we continue to do so.
But we also talked if there are other funding
opportunities, whether it is the Home Loan Banks--there are
Home Loan Banks that their mission is to be in our communities,
looking at affordable housing, and housing in general, that
they also are focusing on our Tribal communities.
And then the only other final question I have is to the
extent that you are not aware of that new HUD program, the
PRICE program, that helps existing manufactured homes, I hope
you take advantage of those opportunities as well.
So thank you. I am going to stop there. Thank you so much.
Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator Cortez Masto.
We have Senator Sinema, who is also joining us remotely.
Senator Sinema.
Senator Sinema. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to
our witnesses for being here today.
Twenty-two federally recognized Tribes call Arizona home,
and I am proud to work with them closely to be a voice and
advocate for Indian Country. It is important to me that Tribes
receive the respect, recognition, and resources owed to them by
the Federal Government.
There is a housing shortage throughout Arizona, but the
issues that face Tribal communities in Arizona are unique,
complex, and deserve additional attention and focus.
So Ms. Fish, thank you for being here. I have heard from
Native housing authorities in Arizona about the growing problem
of fentanyl and methamphetamine use in their communities, which
is a trend we are also seeing in non-Native communities. My
understanding is that the cost of remediating housing units
where drug use has occurred is quite expensive, particularly
for smaller Tribes.
Is this a problem in other parts of the country, and more
generally, what can you share with the Subcommittee today on
this topic?
Ms. Fish. Thank you for the question, Senator. The short
answer is yes. This is a very common problem in Indian Country
or in Tribal communities, and in fact, we spend most of our
Indian Housing Block Grant funds in remediating, maintaining,
and rehabbing homes than we do in any type of development or
new construction of homes. Yes.
Senator Sinema. Thank you. I have also heard that this is a
growing problem, and the Tribes are using their Indian Housing
Block Grant allocations to pay for remediation costs. One Tribe
in Arizona told me that they are spending around $1 million per
year on remediation activities associated with meth and
fentanyl. This worries me for many reasons, but especially
because it means that these dollars are not used toward
expanding affordable housing.
So Ms. Fish, is this scenario I just described in Arizona
an outlier, or is this happening all over?
Ms. Fish. This is happening all over.
Senator Sinema. Thank you. I am working to provide some
more attention and funding on this issue, to help Tribal
housing authorities address remediation issues and expand
access to affordable housing in Indian Country.
Switching gears now, I want to touch on the HEARTH Act and
Indian home ownership briefly. As you all know, the HEARTH Act
allows for leasing of Tribal trust lands, in accordance with
Tribal law, without requiring the Interior Department to
approve each transaction. I would like to hear briefly from
each of our witnesses today on why more Tribes have not
utilized this law, and are there barriers that we should be
aware of that we can assist with?
And I am also going to submit this question for the record
so that each of you have more opportunity to provide expansive
responses.
So if you would, in the time that we have together, be
somewhat brief.
Mr. Goggles. Thank you. This is Patrick Goggles from the
State of Wyoming. John Barrasso sponsored that legislation,
consulting myself on the use of it. On the Wind River Indian
Reservation we have two Tribes, the Northern Arapaho and the
Eastern Shoshone, and getting the two Tribes to agree on a set
of regulations that govern each Tribe commonly has been
difficult to come by.
The HEARTH Act allows Tribes, or Tribe, in some cases,
whether it is a single Tribe on the reservation, to promulgate
regulations under the HEARTH Act for leasing. They still have
to have the Bureau of Indian Affairs' approval to implement
those regulations in terms of leasing of individual homesites
or subdivision in their area, which includes rights of ways,
easements, road easements, and utility rights of way.
In my case, I use a utility license agreement with the
Northern Arapaho Tribe in place of the HEARTH Act right now to
get that job done and streamline that process.
Mr. Upton. Senator, I always refer to what we do on a daily
basis as a big jigsaw puzzle. Each community has their own set
of pieces, and just like you mentioned there, not utilizing the
HEARTH program and utilizing another program that fits, that is
really what we do on a daily basis, is we look for what fits
for our community and what is going to be streamlined and
probably the quickest and the fastest, and what we are most
comfortable with.
And Native CDFIs, whether it comes to fund, you know, not
every Native CDFIs probably can use the 502, but they might be
able to use other programs. So we are constantly looking for
different pieces to make it work in our communities. Each
community is a little bit different. Last week I spent a week
up in South Dakota with the South Dakota Native Home Ownership
Coalition. There were about eight Native CDFIs in the room, and
they introduced the new Freddie Mac program, and only maybe two
of them said it could work for them. I said, but that is a
positive thing because that piece fits your puzzle.
Ms. Fish. Thank you for the question. The short answer is
that it is difficult and very challenging for Tribes. So the
Tribes work with the BIA's Realty Office to be able to exercise
the HEARTH Act, and that Realty Office is challenged with
getting Tribes ready to take over leasing, and they need the
local capacity to take over. So really it is a capacity issue
within Tribes themselves and also within the BIA. So that
component of the process is so overwhelming that Tribes are
discouraged from being able to exercise it.
Chair Smith. Thank you, Senator Sinema.
Senator Sinema. Thank you, Chairwoman.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much.
So, let's see. I have a couple of questions I would like to
follow up on. Mr. Upton, let me start with you. You, in your
testimony, you refer to these proposed rule changes at the
Department of Treasury. You and I have spoken about this
before, I think, when I came to visit the Native CDFI
Coalition.
Could you just identify, with a little bit more
specificity, what you see as some of the challenges--or let me
put it this way, how those proposed rules would negatively
affect how Native CDFIs operate.
Mr. Upton. Probably the top of mind for me would be when it
comes to the prohibiting balloon payments, doing an
amortization for maybe 30 years and ballooning it after 10 to
15 years. I mean, that is a daily practice in the banking
industry. And then also prohibiting interest-only loans. We
deal with so many contractors, and that is how they operate.
And we do not let our loans go evergreen, like on our interest-
only loans. There are very skilled contractors that we use.
They do a job, they draw down on their line of credit, and when
the job is over they pay it off and they roll onto the next
job. And that would really prohibit a lot of Native CDFIs by
being creative in finding new products to get Native
homeowners.
And one more point I just want to draw. We had a loan back
in 2013, that we did, when we did a balloon payment, 30 years,
15-year balloon on it. And we bought it for $90,000, and she
would not have been able to get into that loan. She could not
have afforded a 15-year mortgage, but we were able to go 30. We
bought it for $90,000, and just recently sold it for about
$200,000. So that was a significant increase.
Chair Smith. You used the analogy of a puzzle and how it is
constantly trying to figure out how to put these puzzles
together. And I think one of the things we have learned is that
Native CDFIs are particularly skilled at understanding how to
put those pieces of the puzzle together for Native people on
Tribal land. And so I think I will continue to lift up these
concerns with the Treasury rules. I think that they are
important to keep in mind.
Mr. Upton. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Ms. Morehead, you, in your testimony,
identified five, I think, or so, important issues for us to
consider, and you focused on one of them. I want to focus in on
another of them, which has to do with the issue of how
continuum of care work.
You came to my office. I think we had a discussion about
this a couple of years ago, and we talked about how Tribes were
not eligible to receive funding to respond to homelessness
under the Continuum of Care program. And so we worked together
with Senator Murkowski to pass the Tribal Access to Homeless
Assistance Act. It is a mouthful, but it essentially allowed
Tribes to become able to participate in this.
But I think you and I both know there have been some issues
with implementation here. Could you just talk a bit about why
it was important to make this change to allow Tribes to
participate in Continuum of Care, and what we need to do so
that this is actually working well for Tribes?
Ms. Moreland. Thank you for the question. One of the issues
that we are finding that is a struggle to implement is the pro
rata on how they decide how much funding you get. Tribes
typically are checkerboard--at least they are here in
Minnesota--which means that their land is not touching each
other. And so the formula kind of gets messed up, and we would
not receive very much funding, enough funding to actually have
a project. So we can apply through our Continuum of Care, but
that is not something that we want to do. We want to be able to
receive that funding directly.
With the formula, we would like for the formula to be
distributed kind of like they are in the territories. When
Federal dollars go to like State agencies, it rarely trickles
down to Indian communities when it comes through the State
government. And so by providing the Tribes greater access to
the money by receiving it directly, that will help projects
that can be meaningful, and it can help address the root cause
to homelessness.
Chair Smith. Thank you.
Ms. Moreland. One other quick thing that goes to the thing
about HUD's definition of homelessness. In Minnesota, we have
really cold winters, and families, like the other partners have
said, have a lot of overcrowding in our houses. And then by
having the overcrowding then that makes the houses become
substandard. And so if the definition was changed it would
allow access to help the individuals. When a person is homeless
and then they go for the winter and they stay with a relative,
just for a short period of time, then they become un-homeless
because they are housed, even though technically they are
really still homeless. They are just staying somewhere so they
can stay alive.
And so it would be something to consider changing that
definition of what homelessness is for HUD. So many of the
times here in Minnesota, I do not know if people are familiar
about fish shacks or fish houses. It is a tiny, little house
and it sits on a lake. Usually there is a propane heater and
maybe a wood stove and a bed, and a hole in the floor so you
can fish. And quite frequently we have people who are living in
these very small fish houses because they do not have anywhere
else to go. And if they are living in a fish house, then that
makes them housed, and so then they do not fit in the
definition of being homeless.
Chair Smith. Thank you. That is very helpful. I think
Senator Lummis and I are both familiar with fish houses.
I am past my time, but I am going to ask one last question,
and then unless Senator Lummis has other questions I will be
ready to close this up. But I want to just ask a question of
Mr. Goggles. Everybody, all of our members of the panel, have
talked about how important it is to reauthorize NAHASDA, which
I certainly agree with. I was wondering, Mr. Goggles, if you
could give us just one or two very specific examples about how
a reauthorized NAHASDA would help you and when it is not
reauthorized how that hinders you in your work.
Mr. Goggles. Thank you, Senator, for the question. First of
all, in the past we have lived off a continuing resolution.
Under a continuing resolution you are allocated funds that are
only good for that year, so you do not know what you are going
to get the following fiscal year.
Chair Smith. Right. You cannot plan.
Mr. Goggles. In terms of planning, yes. Just like any other
municipality in the country, if you have a known stream of
revenue coming your way you can plan for those projects, but
you can also plan to fund your employees as well, them not
knowing if they are going to get a raise or not, and me not
being able to give it makes me the bad guy. So that would be
one instance of the reauthorization of NAHASDA.
The other is that what we are asking for in the
reauthorization is Section 8, the Housing Choice Voucher. Under
the Housing Choice Voucher, most of America receives home
assistance with the Housing Choice Voucher. We, in Indian
Country, are not able to use Section 8 because of the acute
shortage on our reservation. We would be able to use Section 8
in the local municipalities to help ease the overcrowding or
acute lack of housing in our area. That would be very helpful
to us.
Those are two short examples, Senator. Thank you.
Chair Smith. Thank you very much.
Well, I want to thank all of our witnesses today for being
here and for providing excellent testimony. Before we adjourn I
would like to enter into the record a report on Native
homelessness in Minnesota and a report on homelessness
mortality. Is there any objection to that? Hearing none, that
is so ordered.
Chair Smith. For Senators who wish to submit questions for
the record, those questions are due 1 week from today, which
will be Tuesday, June 20th. For our witnesses, you will have 45
days to respond to any questions for the record.
Thank you again for taking the time to participate in this
hearing. Thank you to Senator Lummis. And with that this
hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:46 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[Prepared statements, responses to written questions, and
additional material supplied for the record follow:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIR TINA SMITH
Good afternoon. The Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and
Community Development will come to order.
Thank you to our witnesses for participating today, and thank you
to Senator Lummis and her team for working with us on this bipartisan
hearing.
When Senator Lummis and I first met to discuss our goals for this
Subcommittee this Congress, Native housing emerged as a top priority
for both of us.
Finding affordable housing is a challenge for every community right
now, but in Native and Tribal communities, barriers to housing and home
ownership are particularly challenging.
And we know, without safe, decent place to call home, nothing in
your life works--not your work, your family, your health, not anything.
Native people experience this reality in very tangible and specific
ways--as Tribal leaders in Minnesota and around the country tell me all
the time.
Minnesota is home to 11 sovereign Tribal nations, and large
Indigenous populations in the Twin Cities, Duluth, and Bemidji.
Housing challenges in Native communities stretch across the entire
housing continuum, from the lack of emergency shelter to a shortage of
home ownership opportunities on Tribal lands. People struggle to get
mortgages, appraisals, and title insurance. If you own a home, keeping
it in good repair can be difficult because of a shortage of contractors
and skilled trades-people. Tribal communities are often rural and
remote, which adds to the costs of infrastructure like water and sewer.
These issues are common in all rural communities, but they are
exacerbated on Tribal land.
Lease land and trust land each come with their own challenges.
Mortgage lending on trust land can mean months or years of
administrative delays working through the BIA, and many lenders won't
do business on trust lands at all. Mortgages on lease land can also
face lengthy administrative delays. Sen. Rounds and I partnered on a
bill to take the first step on fixing these problems 3 years ago, and
earlier this year, Senators Rounds, Thune, Tester, and I introduced a
bill to take the next step to addressing these delays.
In addition, much of the housing stock on Tribal land is
substandard and needs significant repair. Homes lack full plumbing,
complete kitchens, and sufficient heating. According to a HUD study,
housing in Tribal areas is about six times more likely to have heating
or plumbing deficiencies in comparison to the rest of the country.
Repairs and maintenance are expensive, and so many Tribes end up
spending scarce Federal housing dollars maintaining existing housing
up, rather than building more units to meet the demand for more
housing. The result is unsafe homes that sit vacant and boarded up,
even as the demand for housing is increasing.
Even with recent increases, inflation-adjusted funding for the
Indian Housing Block Grant is well below where it was 25 years ago--and
well below what I believe is needed to meet the trust and treaty
obligations of the Federal Government for housing in Native
communities.
Housing shortages and homelessness are experienced on Tribal land
when families crowd into homes not nearly big enough for all the
people. This is sometimes called ``doubling up,'' which suggests a
relative sleeping on a couch or sharing a bedroom. In practice,
overcrowding is much more intense, with reports of fifteen or even
twenty people sharing a two-bedroom home. Native communities have
strong cultural traditions of not letting relatives go without a place
to stay when you have a house to share. In cold winter climates like
Minnesota, and Wyoming, sleeping outside can be deadly.
In May 2021, in my first hearing as chair, this Subcommittee held a
hearing on Native housing issues, and we heard about the need for more
supportive housing that combines shelter with culturally specific
programming to support Native people experiencing homelessness. In my
home State of Minnesota, Native Americans account for 13 percent of
people experiencing homeless despite being only about one percent of
the State's overall population. Without culturally specific programming
and trauma-informed systems, Native people experiencing homelessness
struggle to access services and find stable housing.
We also heard about the importance of reauthorizing of the Native
American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, or NAHASDA.
That was last updated in 2014, and it's far past time to pass that
important, bipartisan legislation that will cut red tape for housing
development in Native communities, better uphold our promises to Native
veterans, and put a stop to drug use and violent crime. I'm grateful to
Senator Schatz and Senator Murkowski for leading this effort in the
last Congress, and I look forward to working with them to finally get
this done.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about what we
are doing that is working, what's not working, what needs reform, and
what needs more support. These are issues of bipartisan interest, and
places where we've demonstrated the capacity to work together. I look
forward to building on that shared sense of purpose to make progress on
these important issues for Native communities.
I'll now turn to Senator Lummis for her opening statement.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF SENATOR CYNTHIA LUMMIS
Thank you, Madame Chairwoman. And thank you to our witnesses for
joining us today.
I want to start by welcoming Mr. Patrick Goggles. Mr. Goggles
brings vast knowledge and experience working on Tribal housing.
His resume is impressive, currently serving as the Executive
Director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Housing Authority. Mr. Goggles
formerly served in the Wyoming State Legislature and on the Northern
Arapaho Business Council.
Thank you to the rest of the witnesses. The expertise on this panel
will certainly provide for a robust conversation on an issue that is so
critical to Tribal nations across the country.
In my State of Wyoming, we have two federally recognized Tribes,
the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone. Both Tribes share the Wind
River Reservation. The Wind River Reservation is the seventh-largest
American Indian reservation in size and fifth largest in population.
Lack of safe, affordable, and available housing impacts communities
across Wyoming, but especially on the Wind River Reservation. The
housing gap has widened, as the demand for housing is outpacing new
construction.
In many cases, multigenerational families are overcrowded in homes.
These homes often have serious plumbing and electrical problems and are
in dire need of repair.
Congress has provided funding for Native American housing programs
for several decades.
Tribes and tribally designated housing entities use the funding for
a range of affordable housing activities to benefit low-income Tribal
households. This includes developing new housing for rental or home
ownership, maintaining and operating existing housing units, building
infrastructure, and offering housing-related services.
I look forward to hearing from the panel of witnesses about the
challenges they have encountered when working with Federal agencies and
ways these programs can be improved to better serve their communities.
Additionally, I am concerned about the barriers to home ownership
on Tribal lands. Home ownership is shown to benefit and stabilize
communities, but there are many factors making this more difficult for
Native people.
On trust lands, the Bureau of Indian Affairs must process and
certify mortgages issued by Federal agencies and lenders. In some
cases, the BIA has taken months to process mortgages.
That is why I have cosponsored the Tribal Trust Land Homeownership
Act with Chair Smith, to create deadlines that BIA must meet for
processing title documents.
This leads me to recognize the work of Native Community Development
Financial Institutions, which serve as a vehicle for economic growth in
communities that have often faced barriers to accessing capital and
financial services.
I, along with several Members of this Subcommittee, are members of
the Senate Community Development Finance Caucus. The Caucus is a
platform to address the needs of CDFIs so that they have the resources
to serve their communities. I believe CDFIs are a wise investment to
multiply our Federal dollars for maximum impact.
In closing, our witnesses today provide unique perspectives on the
state of Native American housing.
I look forward to hearing their testimony and discussing ways to
ensure Tribal housing needs are met.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHELSEA FISH
Executive Director, National American Indian Housing Council
June 13, 2023
Good afternoon. My name is Chelsea Fish, and I am the Executive
Director of the National American Indian Housing Council. I am a
citizen of the Seminole Nation. I want to thank Chairwoman Smith, Vice
Chair Lummis, and all Members serving on this Subcommittee for
acknowledging Native American housing as a pressing issue and having
this hearing today. This is an opportunity to recognize and understand
that Tribal housing issues and the reauthorization of the Native
American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA) are
important priorities for Tribes, their members, and for this 118th
Congress. I also want to thank this Committee, as stewards of
Government and ally of Tribal nations, for continuing to ensure the
United States is fulfilling its trust and treaty obligations towards
Indian Country with respect to providing safe, affordable housing
opportunities in Tribal communities and to Native people anywhere in
the country.
Background on the National American Indian Housing Council
The National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) was created by
Tribal housing programs in 1974 and for nearly five decades has
provided invaluable Training and Technical Assistance (T&TA) to all
Tribes and Tribal housing entities; provided information to Congress
regarding the issues and challenges that Tribes face in their housing,
infrastructure, and community development efforts; and worked with key
Federal agencies to ensure their programs' effectiveness in Native
communities. Overall, NAIHC's primary mission is to promote and support
American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians in their self-
determined goal to provide culturally relevant and quality affordable
housing for Native people.
NAIHC is a membership organization comprised of 293 members
representing 493 \1\ Tribes and Tribal housing organizations. NAIHC's
membership includes Tribes and tribally designated. There are 574
federally recognized Indian Tribes and Alaska Native villages in the
United States, all of which are eligible for membership in NAIHC. Other
NAIHC members include State-recognized Tribes eligible for housing,
housing entities across the United States, including Alaska and
Hawai`i. NAIHC members are constituents of every Member of this
Committee, either directly through Tribes located in your States, or
generally through the United States' Government-to-Government
relationship with all Tribes within the United States. NAIHC represents
our members' unified interests and are deeply appreciative of your work
to improve the lives of Indigenous Peoples throughout the Country.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ There are 574 federally recognized Indian Tribes and Alaska
Native villages in the United States, all of which are eligible for
membership in NAIHC. Other NAIHC members include State-recognized
Tribes eligible for assistance under the 1937 Housing Act and that were
subsequently provided funding pursuant to the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, and the Department of
Hawaiian Home Lands, the State agency that administers the Native
Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Profile of Indian Country
There are 574 federally recognized Indian Tribes in the United
States. Despite progress over the last few decades, many Tribal
communities continue to suffer from some of the highest unemployment
and poverty rates in the United States. Historically, Native Americans
in the United States have also experienced higher rates of substandard
housing and overcrowded homes than other demographics. The U.S. Census
Bureau reported in the 2019 American Community Survey data that
American Indians and Alaska Natives were almost twice as likely to live
in poverty as the rest of the population--23.0 percent compared with
12.3 percent. The median income for an American Indian Alaska Native
household is 30 percent less than the national average ($45,476 versus
$65,712).
In addition, overcrowding, substandard housing, and homelessness
are far more common in Native American communities. In January 2017,
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published an
updated housing needs assessment for Tribal communities. According to
the assessment, 5.6 percent of homes on Native American lands lacked
complete plumbing and 6.6 percent lacked complete kitchens. These are
nearly four times than the national average, which saw rates of 1.3
percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. The assessment also found that
12 percent of Tribal homes lacked sufficient heating.
The assessment highlighted the issue of overcrowded homes in Indian
Country, finding that 15.9 percent of Tribal homes were overcrowded,
compared to only 2.2 percent of homes nationally. The assessment
concluded that to alleviate the substandard and overcrowded homes in
Indian Country, 68,000 new units need to be built.
In 2018, the United States Commission on Civil Rights updated its
``Broken Promises'' report first released in 2003, and found that
housing conditions had deteriorated, with the number of overcrowded
households or households with inadequate plumbing growing by 21
percent, and the number of families facing severe housing costs growing
by 55 percent.
State of Housing Development in Indian Country
Since the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination
Act (NAHASDA) was enacted in 1996, Tribes have built over 37,000 new
units according to HUD. Between FY 2007 and 2010, Tribes were averaging
over 2,400 new unit construction, but it dropped significantly in
recent years to only 2,000 new units between 2011 and 2014. HUD
estimates less than 1,000 new units will be built in future years as
Tribes focus on maintaining existing housing stock over new
development.
The problem is evident. Indian Country needs to build more housing
units to meet its persistent and growing need which is largely due to
the lack funding and insufficient resources. The solution is simple,
and it starts with Congress fulfilling its trust obligation but instead
Congress has kept funding for the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG)
(established by NAHASDA) at stagnant levels for more than 20 years.
Lawmakers have been decreasing the amounts of housing assistance to
Tribal communities each year by leveling funding for NAHASDA programs
while inflation has grown over the last two decades. In that time,
inflation has diminished the purchasing power of those dollars and new
unit construction has drastically declined as Tribes must shift their
efforts to rehabilitating existing units.
In FY20, Congressional IHBG formula funding was $650 million which
provided roughly two-thirds the purchasing power that Tribes received
at the inception of NAHASDA in FY98 ($600 million in FY 1998). In IHBG
funding tracking since NAHASDA's passage has revealed that annual
appropriations compared to inflation-adjusted levels have caused Tribal
housing programs to lose $3.4 billion since FY 1998. Recent funding
additions to NAHASDA programs, such as the competitive IHBG funding,
are welcome and encouraging, but alone are insufficient to make up for
the loss of funding over time.
Since 1997, Tribes have used IHBG funding to create almost 41,500
affordable housing units and restored an additional 105,000 units.
Autonomy over IHBG funds allows Tribes to leverage private investments
alongside Federal dollars to create more affordable housing for Tribal
citizens and families. However, higher costs of construction and land
acquisition remain the largest hurdle for Tribes and increased
development costs and loss of purchasing power has motivated many
Tribes to shift its priorities away from constructing new units and
focus instead on rehabilitating and maintaining existing housing units.
According to HUD's Housing Needs Study, an estimated 68,000 units
are needed to address Indian Country's overcrowded and substandard
housing conditions, though with new housing construction or acquisition
fairly stagnant at around 1,000 new units per year in Tribal
communities, it is highly likely that the need has only increased. It
is the responsibility of this Committee and Congress to uphold treaty
and trust obligations that includes funding and resources for housing
opportunities across Indian Country.
To put the funding into perspective, the FY 2021 IHBG funding
levels provide 379 Tribes/grantees with less than $500,000 to operate
their housing program, which includes managing their existing housing
units, providing low-income rental assistance, other housing services
AND developing new housing units. Further, 175 of the IHBG grantees
received less than $100,000 a year to carry out these activities.
Tribes simply cannot build more homes with the inadequate funding from
IHBG and ICDBG alone.
Geographic challenges continue to impede housing efforts on Tribal
lands. Isolated areas often lack a developed housing and lending
market, leaving them almost entirely dependent on Federal funding.
Building costs in rural areas surge as a result of the need to
transport materials, as well as their need to accommodate workers. Many
reservations are not in close proximity to power, water, roads, and
other services which not only adds to their overall building costs, but
also discourages outside funding and development interests.
NAHASDA was passed in 1996 to streamline Tribes' access to housing
programs dollars by consolidating multiple programs into a single block
grant. However, with the lack of increased appropriations to NAHASDA
programs, Tribes are again piecing their housing programs together by
finding resources from different programs across the Federal
Government. In a 2018 survey conducted by NAIHC, only 17 percent of our
members who responded indicated they planned to utilize non-HUD funds
in their programs. So, while there are various resources available to
Tribes, it takes a lot of work to gather these pieces and leverage it
with multiple funding opportunities, while also operating the day-to-
day housing program and caring about the community.
The Laguna Housing Development and Management Enterprise (LHDME)
has established one of the most effective housing authorities in Indian
Country by leveraging different sources of funding and utilizing
programs such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to build homes
for their members. The ``Laguna #3'' Housing Project is currently
underway and will provide housing for 20 families by fall 2024.
Elevating the State of Native American Housing
The success of Tribal housing programs was evident early on in
NAHASDA, when Tribes were producing new housing units at rates similar
to or higher than HUD prior to NAHASDA's enactment. The success of
NAHASDA and Tribal housing programs stems from NAHASDA's self-
determination roots that allow Tribes themselves to develop their own
Indian Housing Plan for the communities. Tribe tailor these plans to
their housing needs and priorities and its able provide the flexibility
Tribes need to carry out their programs. For example, a Tribe can
prioritize senior assisted housing, rental assistance, or home
ownership by incorporating those services in their Indian Housing Plan.
Tribes know best how to take care of their own citizens which is the
main reason lawmakers should focus their efforts to empower Tribes by
reauthorizing NAHASDA.
Reauthorization of NAHASDA means increased resources: NAHASDA was
last reauthorized in 2008 and expired in 2013. While Congress has
continued to provide funding to NAHASDA programs, and even increased
some program funding in the last few years, there are some programmatic
changes that recent reauthorization bills contain that could streamline
various aspects of HUD and IHBG programs. For example, one long-
standing fix would address duplicative environmental reviews, which
Tribes often face when they leverage multiple Federal funding sources.
Recent reauthorization bills have also contained provisions to create
an Assistant Secretary for Indian Housing to provide enhanced attention
at the senior leadership of HUD.
The Senate reauthorization bills from the 117th Congress also has
several important leveraging provisions that allow Tribal housing
projects to utilize the Indian Health Service's Sanitation funds,
provide access to HUD Housing Counseling grants, and encourage
leveraging other Federal funds by relaxing match requirements. Other
smaller fixes include simplifying Total Development Cost allowances,
clarifying the rent-to-ownership process and allowing Tribes to assist
with student housing. One provision related to promoting Tribal
sovereignty and self-determination, a key component of NAHASDA, would
allow Tribes to set minimum rent rates for its housing units, and NAIHC
supports its continued inclusion in NAHASDA reauthorization efforts.
NAIHC recognizes the progress that has been made on getting NAHASDA
reauthorization enacted, and particularly would like to thank the Chair
and Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for their
efforts.
Example: Housing Situation of Nulato, Alaska
Nulato, Alaska, is located on the west bank of the Yukon River 310
air miles west of Fairbanks. It lies in the Nulato Hills, across the
river from the Innoko National Wildlife Refuge. There are no roads that
lead in or out of the community. The Population of Nulato, according to
the 2020 US Census, is 239 people. The price of a gallon of unleaded
gasoline is $7.20, heating oil is $6.80 and shipping from Fairbanks via
airline is $1.80 per pound of cargo, groceries or otherwise. A round
trip air ticket to Fairbanks, the closest urban community, is $500 per
person. $2500 for a family of 5.
Nulato has 4 homeless elders, 12 homeless young adults and a
housing need of 20 homes. Much of the adult community live with their
parents or relatives. Most homes were built in the early 80s and are up
to 70's code. Windows are not Egress as they either do not open or
cannot fit an adult in case of emergency. Electrical systems are
corroded or also out of code. There are no electricians, nor plumbers
who live in Nulato so contracted rehabilitation is out of the question.
Current housing construction of a single-family home is estimated
to cost $670,000. The current income level for NAHASDA for the Nulato
Tribal Council is $200,101. At which rate 29 percent of a home can be
built in one year's time. That is not including any cost of real
estate. That means it would take 3.3 years of program income in order
to complete one home.
Example: Comanche Nation, OK
On trend with most Tribes and Tribal housing programs that are
shifting focus from housing development to housing rehab, in 2022, the
Comanche Nation Housing Authority (CNHA) expended its IHBG funds mainly
on modernizing and rehabilitating existing homes for Tribal citizens
living within the five-county service area in Oklahoma.
HUD Office of Native American Programs. Tribes across Indian
Country rely heavily on assistance from HUD Office of Native American
Program (ONAP) Headquarters and regional offices to help clarify
NAHASDA programming and funding eligible activities. Tribes utilize and
benefit from many HUD housing programs and resources, some general,
some Tribe-specific, including the Indian Community Development Block
Grant (ICDBG), the HUD 184 Native American Loan Guarantee Program,
NAHASDA Title VI Loan Guarantee Program, the formula funded and
competitive IHBG programs, and Native Hawaiian programs. Other HUD
programs have varying levels of eligibility for Tribes. Because Tribes
depend on funding and services from these programs, it is imperative
that Congress and Federal partners improve Tribal access on a more
national scope.
HUD ONAP has opportunities to strengthen its partnership with
Tribes and Tribal housing programs with policy flexibilities and fixes.
The best example is the HUD Housing Counseling program, which Tribes
are currently ineligible to apply for funds but may soon find
themselves subject to housing counseling regulations not tailored for
Tribal communities. Another example is the Continuum of Care program,
which was addressed by Congress through the inclusion of the Tribal
Access to Homeless Assistance Act in the FY 2021 Consolidated
Appropriations Act in which Tribes are now eligible to participate in.
In addition to HUD, Tribes can find housing resources at the U.S.
Treasury, such as tax credit programs and the recently created
Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Homeowner Assistance Funds; the
U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Rural Housing programs; the
Veterans Administration and its Native American Direct Loan Program;
and others.
Home Ownership. There are many barriers to home ownership in Indian
Country namely the that Federal trust land cannot be used to secure a
home loan. Instead, Tribes can issue a leasehold interest to the
borrower that can be used as collateral. Generally, banks see doing
business with Tribes and/or Tribal citizens as a risk because if the
borrower defaults on the loan, the lender cannot seize the land from a
Tribe to recoup monies. Other socioeconomic determinants like isolation
and poverty also factor into inequitable lending practices among Native
American families. The history of subjugation, expropriation,
assimilation, and the undermining of Tribal self-determination are
evident in the long standing prejudices and traumas which have
contributed to systemic issues that continue to disadvantage Native
Americans and impeded mortgage lending on reservation lands.
In addition, Native borrowers on average pay approximately 2
percent more than borrowers off-reservation which can total an
additional $100,000 over a 30-year mortgage. Investment from lenders is
often hindered by a lengthy review process that is needed when
investing in Federal trust land. As a result, approximately 93 percent
of loans granted through HUD programs have been on fee land. Lack of
investment from lenders can also be attributed to a disparity in
professional resources needed to plan and implement larger housing
developments. However, lawmakers have the ability to strengthen housing
programs that expand and enhance home ownership opportunities for
Tribal citizens and veterans.
Example: Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority; Flathead Indian
Reservation, MT
The Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority's (SKHA) Homebuyer
Readiness Program offers Tribal citizens the tools and resources need
to become responsible homeowners. SKHA offers downpayment and closing
cost assistance for Tribal members and sees approximately 155 clients
annually. Every applicant must complete the Pathways Home curriculum, a
comprehensive homebuyer education program sponsored by the National
American Indian Housing Council. SKHA learned that working with local
banks and lenders builds trust with the borrower. Though not all
interested clients qualify or get approved, SKHA continues to assist
with credit repair to prepare them for home ownership.
HUD Section 184 Loan Guarantee Program: The 184 Loan Guarantee
program helps a Tribe or Tribal member secure a mortgage for an
existing or new-construction home by providing a loan guarantee to a
private sector bank or lending institution. While the program is
targeted to Tribal communities and nearby service areas, the program
has struggled to incentivize mortgages on trust lands in Tribal
communities, where many families reside on land that their families
have held for generations. Obstacles include a slow and burdensome
title process involving the Department of the Interior's Bureau of
Indian Affairs and banks and lenders general preference to work with
the more familiar property held ``in fee,'' Improvements include
streamlining the process at the BIA, encouraging more private lenders
to participate in the program generally and participate through
mortgages specifically on trust lands.
VA Native American Direct Loan Program: The Veteran Affairs Native
American Direct Loan Program (NADLP) provides loans to eligible Native
American veterans to purchase, construct, or improve homes on certain
types of land. However, according to a 2022 GAO Study, in FY 2012-2021,
the VA NADL issued only 89 loans to veterans across the United States,
91 loans in Hawai`i, and none in Alaska. This represents loans to less
than 1 percent of the estimated potentially eligible population of
64,000-70,000 veterans in these areas. The NADL loans don't require
downpayments or mortgage insurance, and closing costs are limited,
according to the announcement. The VA has poorly upheld its obligations
to Native veterans though recently the VA lowed its loan interest rate
from 6 percent to 3.5 percent for Native veterans. This effort is
appreciated but is only a start to addressing the housing needs for
Native veterans who bravely served this country. It is well known that
Native Americans have served in the United States Armed Forces as
higher rates than any other demographic, so it is vital that Native
veterans are provided the support they deserve and have earned through
their service.
Further incentivize private investment in Tribal communities:
Indian Country is almost always last to receive the attention of
private, commercial banking. The lack of economies of scale in Tribal
communities, increased development costs, and the complexities of
Tribal lands and communities (both actual and perceived) simply lead
private banking to avoid Tribal areas. While there have been national
tax credit programs or other incentives available for years to spur
development in underserved areas, the programs have generally been less
effective for Indian Country. Strengthening incentives for development
in Indian Country or creating specific set-asides or mandates through
these programs is needed to ensure that Tribal communities are not left
further behind.
Urban Indian Housing. There is little research on the housing
experiences of American Indian and Alaska Native people in urban areas,
but the need is evident with the high number of unsheltered or homeless
Native Americans. The Indian Health Service states that about 70
percent of AIAN people live in urban areas.
Example: Siletz Tribe of Oregon
The Siletz Tribe of Oregon and the Native American Youth
Association (NAYA) partnered to open the Mamook Tokatee ``Making
Beautiful'', a housing community for artist and American Indians and
Alaska Natives living in Portland who are experiencing homelessness or
struggling with addictions. Siletz filled in the financial gaps using
funding from the Indian Housing Block Grant to set aside 20 units for
Tribal members which helps alleviate stress on the housing needs for
American Indians and Alaska Natives living in urban areas. Mamook also
offers resident and support services and is only one several projects
that NAYA has partnered with Tribes to support housing services through
IHBG.
Make HUD-VASH Permanent and Expand to All Tribes: Currently, only
26 Tribes have participated in the Tribal HUD-VASH program, which
provides both housing and supportive services to Tribal veterans and
their families that are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. HUD-VASH
is another example of a larger, national housing program that
originally left Tribal communities out when it was created in 2008.
Congress expanded the program through a Tribal demonstration project
beginning in FY 2015. The program has identified obstacles, such as the
lack of housing stock in Tribal communities to house veterans through
the program and the need for greater supportive services from the VA to
Native veterans in Tribal communities. Many of the Tribes participating
in the pilot have found ways to provide these supportive services
through various partnerships between the VA and Tribal or IHS
professionals and Tribes may be more able to secure housing units for
the program if it was made permanent and Tribes had more certainty for
future funding of the program.
Restore Access to Section 8 Vouchers: Prior to NAHASDA, many Tribes
have been receiving tenant-based vouchers to provide low-income rental
assistance to members in Tribal communities. With NAHASDA providing the
single block grant to Tribes, NAHASDA expressly restricted Tribes from
accessing vouchers moving forward. However, with NAHASDA funds
remaining stagnant (or decreasing due to inflation), Tribes find it
difficult to provide the same low-income rental assistance year-to-year
or to expand that assistance as new housing units come online in their
communities. Congress routinely adds vouchers to the larger national
program to keep pace with the need, or to fund existing vouchers
adequately each year, while Tribal programs have no similar mechanism.
While the restriction on section 8 vouchers could be removed entirely,
past NAIHC resolutions have called for the specific restoration of
vouchers for LIHTC projects in Tribal communities, as the two programs
work together well in the non-Tribal setting.
Conclusion
NAIHC thanks the Members of this Subcommittee for holding this
important hearing and we want to thank all the Members of Congress who
have introduced and sponsored bills and supported efforts to improve
housing opportunities in Tribal communities. Tribes have consistently
shown how far they can stretch their housing dollars to help the most
members of their community as possible, and NAIHC and Tribal housing
programs look forward to working with our partners in Congress and
Federal agencies to continue building safe, affordable housing in our
communities. NAIHC asks for the full Committee's support to reauthorize
NAHASDA, increase funding to critical Tribal housing programs, and help
address the incredible need for housing units and developments across
Indian Country.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF PATRICK GOGGLES
Executive Director, Northern Arapaho Housing Authority
June 13, 2023
For the record my name is W. Patrick Goggles, Executive Director of
Northern Arapaho Tribal Housing. I reside on the Wind River Indian
Reservation, Wyoming.
I am also a Region V board member to the National American Indian
Housing Council, the national organization representing Federally
recognized Tribes, Tribally Designated Housing Entities and Tribal
Housing Authorities from Hawai`i, Alaska, and the lower 48 States.
First and foremost, I would recommend the Committee to consider the
reauthorization of Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act (NAHASDA) of 1996. The reauthorization of the NAHASDA
would provide Tribes and their housing entities the opportunity to
plan, develop, and construct affordable housing on Tribal lands.
NAHASDA has not been reauthorized since 2013, for at least 10 years.
NAHASDA has been funded by continuing resolutions that provide a yearly
allocation to Tribal Housing entities and leaves little room to
effectively plan for affordable housing development, either rental or
home ownership. NAHASDA provides Tribal recipients with an annual
allocation; the Indian Housing block grant (IHBG). The block grant
funds the operation of Tribal housing operations that also provides
meaningful employment to Tribes. As a side note, the unemployment rate
on the Wind River Indian Reservation is approximately 35 percent.
Three years ago, Congress first funded the Competitive Indian
Housing Block Grant to allow Tribes and their housing entities to apply
for development funds that were not included in their regular block
grant. The challenge for Tribes to compete, especially Tribes, without
gaming revenue is to match or leverage requirement of the Competitive
Indian Housing Block Grant. Leverage requirements become a significant
barrier to Tribes and THDEs of all sizes and capacities to access
additional funds to satisfy the competitive leveraging requirements. I
urge the Committee to direct HUD ONAP to remove all competitive
requirements related to the Competitive Indian Housing Block Grant as
well as the Indian Community Development Block Grant. Removing the
leveraging requirements will allow more Tribes to compete for these
important supplemental development funds.
The challenge of building affordable housing on Tribal lands in the
total of cost of development; Infrastructure is approximately one-third
of the total development costs. Current Federal assistance prioritizes
``construction-ready'' projects. In the regions I represent, Region V
(Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah) and Region III (North Dakota,
South Dakota, Nebraska), many of the Tribes are large land-based Tribes
supporting rural Native communities that are miles from the basic
essential services, such as emergency services (fire, ambulance, law
enforcement).
I would encourage the Subcommittee to allow Tribal housing programs
to gain access to the Housing Choice Voucher (HVC) /Section 8 program
that now comprises the vast majority of housing assistance funds
provided in the United States. Access to Section 8/HCV would allow
Tribes to provide housing vouchers to their tax credit and other units
in the same manner public housing authorities are doing today. Housing
stock on Indian Reservation is virtually nonexistent. Conditions of
overcrowding and an acute shortage of safe and stable affordable
housing units on Tribal lands have existed during my 20 years as the
Executive Director of Northern Arapaho Tribal Housing.
Tribes are also working to expand housing opportunities for Tribal
members with affordable rental units as well as home ownership. Under
the HUD Section 184 loan guarantee, Tribes and individual Tribal
members can seek assistance to access lending funds to purchase or
build a home on Tribal lands. It is my opinion that HUD-ONAP should be
consulting Tribes when proposing a change to the Section 184 loan
program. The current changes to the Section 184 program are making it
increasingly difficult to use the program on Tribal lands which was the
original intent of the 184 program. HUD has announced that it is
drafting a handbook to operate the new Section 184 program and Tribes
should be involved in the drafting as well.
In regards to Native American Veterans, the HUD-VASH (Veterans
Supportive Housing) voucher has been implemented for the last few years
as a demonstration project. I would encourage the Subcommittee to
consider funding the Tribal VASH on a regional basis to allow for all
Tribes to participate. Regional VASH voucher pools could be established
for each ONAP region to allow all TDHEs access to vouchers to service
Native American veterans.
In my experience as an Executive Director, over the years, the one
barrier has been the inability of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to
lease Tribal lands to housing entities or Tribal members in a timely
manner. I have experience instances of three to four years to finalize
a master lease for a Tribal subdivision or two to three years for a
Tribal member to lease a homesite. I would encourage the Subcommittee
to visit with the Select Committee of Indian Affairs on a congressional
level to fully understand the scope of their stewardship on Trust and
allotted Tribal lands.
In closing, Northern Arapaho Tribal Housing appreciates the
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development for
the invitation to myself as Executive Director to provide testimony. I
would like to thank the Chair of the Subcommittee on Housing,
Transportation, and Community Development Senator Tina Smith and
Ranking Republican Member Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming, for holding the
hearing on housing for American Indians and Alaska Native Communities.
______
PREPARED STATEMENT OF PETE UPTON
CEO, Native CDFI Network, and Executive Director, Native360 Loan Fund
June 13, 2023
On behalf of the Native CDFI Network (NCN) and the 64 Treasury-
certified Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs)
and roughly two dozen emerging Native CDFIs we serve across 27 States,
I welcome this opportunity to present to this Subcommittee our shared
perspectives on the capital access challenges related to housing and in
particular home ownership faced by American Indian, Alaska Native, and
Native Hawaiian communities, the pivotal role Native CDFIs play in
helping to address those challenges and the tremendous potential they
possess to further cultivate economic growth in those communities, and
what Congress can do to transform that potential into reality.
The Capital Access Challenges Facing Native Housing and Home Ownership
in Indian Country
Despite recent advancements and success stories forged by Native
CDFIs, Tribal governments, other key Native-run entities, and our
partners across Indian Country, the challenges facing Native housing
and home ownership remain severe and pervasive. As the Center for
Indian Country Development with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
explains, ``in 2016, just 52.9 percent of all Natives were homeowners,
down from 55.5 percent in 2000. In Tribal areas, there is a strong and
as yet unmet demand for home ownership among Native households: 75
percent report a strong desire to own their home. Concerns about
chronic housing shortages, quality, and over-crowdedness suggest
additional demand for new investments in private homes in Indian
Country.'' \1\ Historic and persisting redlining as well as chronic
underinvestment in vital Federal programs like the Native American CDFI
Assistance (NACA) Program continue to plague Indian Country's access to
capital generally and financing for Native home ownership in
particular. These factors and others contribute to a situation where,
among other troubling statistics, Native people live in overcrowded
households at a rate of nearly 700 percent higher than the rest of the
U.S. population, \2\ and the number of Native families facing severe
housing costs grew by 55 percent over a recent 15-year period. \3\
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\1\ Center for Indian Country Development (Patrice Kunesh, ed.),
``Tribal Leaders Handbook on Homeownership'', Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis, 2018, p. 4 (https://www.minneapolisfed.org/-/media/files/
community/indiancountry/resources-education/cicd-tribal-leaders-
handbook-on-home-ownership.pdf).
\2\ Diane K. Levy, et al., ``Housing Needs of American Indians and
Alaska Natives in Urban Areas: A Report From the Assessment of American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing Needs'', U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy
Development and Research, January 2017 (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/
sites/default/files/pdf/NAHSG-UrbanStudy.pdf).
\3\ U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, ``Broken Promises: Continuing
Federal Funding Shortfall for Native Americans'', Briefing Report,
December 2018, p. 137 (https://www.usccr.gov/files/pubs/2018/12-20-
Broken-Promises.pdf).
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Meanwhile, Indian Country's challenges when it comes to financial
literacy, access to credit, and the prices Native people pay when they
finally do get a home loan are equally severe. Just before the pandemic
hit in 2019, the Federal Reserve found that Native Americans living on
reservations who want to buy homes are significantly more likely to
have high-priced mortgages, and those mortgage rates average nearly two
percentage points higher than for non-Native people outside
reservations. \4\ According to the Federal Reserve, this means a Native
family purchasing a $140,000 home on a reservation could pay $100,000
more over the course of a 30-year loan than a non-Native purchasing a
home outside a reservation would pay.
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\4\ Laura Cattaneo and Donna Feir, ``The Higher Price of Mortgage
Financing for Native Americans'', Working Paper Series No. 1906,
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 17, 2019, p. 1 (https://
www.minneapolisfed.org/media/assets/papers/cicdwp/2019/cicd-wp-
201906.pdf).
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This state of affairs is simply unacceptable, but there is a proven
solution for improving it--Native CDFIs.
The Vital Role Native CDFIs Play in Native Housing and Home Ownership
As the CDFI Fund explains on its website, Native CDFIs' origins can
be traced to the 1994 Congressional legislation authorizing the Fund's
creation, which contained among its provisions the mandating of a study
examining lending and investment practices in Native communities. \5\
Titled the ``Native American Lending Study'', the study identified 17
major barriers to investment in Indian Country, and ``affirmed the
importance of developing Native CDFIs to play a key role in the broader
effort to lead Native Communities into the Nation's economic
mainstream.'' \6\
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\5\ CDFI Fund, ``Native Initiatives'' webpage, U.S. Department of
the Treasury (https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/programs/
native-initiatives).
\6\ CDFI Fund, ``The CDFI Fund's Native Initiatives: Fostering
Economic Self-Determination for Your Native Community'', Fact Sheet,
U.S. Department of the Treasury, February 2020, p. 1 (https://
www.cdfifund.gov/sites/cdfi/files/documents/cdfi7205-fs-ni-
updatedfeb20.pdf).
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In the two decades since the study's release, Native CDFIs have
proven themselves vital engines for fueling the growth of healthy,
vibrant Native economies and communities. In the CDFI Fund's own words,
Native CDFIs are ``an important part of the CDFI Fund's mission to
expand the capacity of financial institutions to provide credit,
capital, and financial services to underserved populations and
communities in the United States,'' and they are making a
``considerable impact'' by ``helping to transform their communities.
They are creating businesses and jobs in places that desperately need
them. They are providing personal financial education and business
training to persons who have been excluded from our Nation's economic
mainstream. They are helping to change the lives of the people they
serve.'' \7\ According to the Treasury Department, investments made in
CDFIs produce an eight-fold return, with each $1 creating $8 in private
sector investments. \8\
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\7\ CDFI Fund, ``Financing Native Leaders for Tomorrow: Native
Initiatives Strategic Plan FY 2009-2014'', U.S. Department of the
Treasury, 2009, p. 3 (https://www.cdfifund.gov/sites/cdfi/files/
documents/native-american-strategic-plan.pdf).
\8\ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, ``Native CDFIs: Stepping Up
To Serve Indian Country Through the Pandemic and Beyond'', Native CDFI
Network, July 2021, p. 1 (https://nativecdfi.net/wp-content/uploads/
2021/09/NCN-Pandemic-Report.pdf).
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Nowhere is Native CDFIs' impact more profound than with Native home
ownership. A growing number of Native CDFIs across the country offer
home ownership loans, downpayment assistance, and homebuyer training to
Native people who have been and continue to be purposefully ignored by
mainstream lending institutions. Simply put, without Native CDFIs,
these people would have no path to becoming homeowners and building a
solid financial foundation and source of intergenerational wealth for
their families. For example, in South Dakota over a recent 15-month
period, 85 percent of the total home loans made to Native people across
the State were financed by Native CDFIs. \9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, ``Our Collective
Path to Native Homeownership'' (January 2022-April 2023), Data
Infographic, April 2023.
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Native CDFIs exemplify and advance the mission of the CDFI Fund by
enabling home ownership for Native people who have never owned a home
through HUD opportunities such as Section 184 Loan Guarantees, HUD
housing counseling, and other existing Federal programs such as the
USDA 502 Direct Loan program, the Veterans Affairs Native American
Direct Home Loan program, and the Federal Home Loan Bank system. These
various Federal tools are helpful, but they are universally underfunded
and need to be enhanced and expanded to address the immense scope of
the home ownership challenges that Native communities continue to face.
It is worth noting that each Native CDFI crafts and implements its
own innovative, customized solutions to these challenges based on its
intimate understanding of the Native community or communities it
serves. NCN works to uplift and enhance the ability of each Native CDFI
to do so. Geographic location plays a significant role in shaping the
challenges these institutions work to address. While some NCDFIs
exclusively serve reservations, others cater to federally designated
service counties. Some serve exclusively rural Native communities, and
others serve both urban and rural Native communities. Some serve a
single Native community in a concentrated geography, while others serve
multiple communities across an expansive region. This diversity
highlights the need for thoughtful, self-determined approaches and
solutions tailored to the specific missions and service areas of each
Native CDFI and the particular needs and cultures of the distinct
Native community or communities they serve.
The challenges encountered by Native CDFIs are multifaceted,
requiring a holistic approach to problem solving. They include limited
access to low-cost lending capital as well as financial resources
supporting organizational capacity building, overly rigid Federal
programs, non-Native predatory lenders, and low financial literacy
among existing and potential Native CDFI clients. Addressing these
challenges requires precise, localized solutions that can be likened to
puzzle pieces that need to come together to form a complete picture. It
also requires effective collaboration and coordination between Native
CDFIs and various stakeholders, including Congress, Federal agencies,
and the Native CDFI Network.
By recognizing the distinctiveness of each Native CDFI and the
range of obstacles they face, stakeholders can work together to support
the development of comprehensive strategies. A holistic approach that
combines increased funding, streamlined processes, and enhanced
collaboration will empower Native CDFIs to overcome their unique
challenges and fulfill their crucial role in addressing housing and
home ownership needs across American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian communities.
Native CDFIs are uniquely positioned to understand the specific
needs, cultural context, and financial circumstances of Native
communities. They have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by
individuals and families seeking home ownership and work tirelessly to
develop solutions that meet their demonstrated and understood needs.
Through tailored financial products, technical assistance, and
community outreach, Native CDFIs have proven to be pivotal in
increasing access to affordable housing and home ownership
opportunities.
However, despite their significant progress, Native CDFIs need
support from Congress to grow that progress to meet the moment. One
critical step Congress can take is to provide increased funding for
programs that support Native CDFIs. This includes allocating resources
to strengthen the capacity of Native CDFIs, enabling them to expand
their reach, develop new impactful programs, and meet the unique
challenges faced by their communities. We ask Congress to recognize
Native CDFIs as an irreplaceable tool to deploy affordable capital to
Indian Country.
Requests of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation,
and Community Development and Congress as a Whole
NCN and the Native CDFIs we serve have collectively identified the
following six key ways that Congress can strengthen Native home
ownership across the country and specifically the vital role of Native
CDFIs in that endeavor:
Support Native CDFIs' efforts to ensure Treasury's reforms to CDFI
Certification strengthen--and not harm--Native CDFIs across the
country: As you know, the Treasury Department and CDFI Fund are close
to completing their process to reform the CDFI Certification
Application and related regulations. Unfortunately, their proposed
reforms threaten to hamper Native CDFIs' ability to sustain and grow
economic progress and specifically home ownership in Indian Country by
needlessly placing them in a no-win position: either (1) drastically
change the way they operate and the types of needs-based programs and
products they offer simply to conform to the CDFI Fund's proposed rigid
certification requirements, or (2) forego attaining or retaining
certification, which will result in significantly reduced access to the
capital and credit they need to serve their clients (see multiple
comment letters attached for more details).
Particularly troubling among the CDFI Fund's proposed reforms are
its prohibitions of interest-only mortgage loans, mortgage loans with
balloon payments, and mortgage loans with terms longer than 30 years.
Many Native CDFIs currently offer interest-only loans and loans with
balloon payments to provide affordable home ownership opportunities to
Native clients that otherwise would not have access to mortgage loans.
For example, one Native CDFI offers a 30-year amortized mortgage loan
product that features a 5-year balloon payment. The CDFI works with
borrowers to help ensure they can refinance their loans with the local
credit union before the balloon payment is due. This prepares and
incentivizes borrowers to enter the financial mainstream, as well as
allowing the CDFI to turn over capital more quickly to serve a much
larger number of home buyers. Other innovative interest-only and/or
balloon loan products offered by Native CDFIs that help Native people
access affordable and flexible capital to meet their needs include home
equity lines of credit, construction loans, housing development loans,
and downpayment assistance loans. Many of these would no longer be
allowed under the proposed new limitations. Some Native CDFIs also
offer terms on mortgage loans longer than 30 years to make them
affordable, including USDA loans they deploy featuring terms of 38
years. Although longer-term mortgage loans could lead to a slower
accumulation of equity, they provide families with housing security
through fixed housing payments--not to mention the pride of home
ownership. Altogether, according to two recent NCN surveys, roughly 40
percent of Native CDFIs currently provide at least one of these types
of loans to their clients.
NCN and the Native CDFIs we represent and serve call upon Congress
and specifically this Subcommittee to help us elevate our concerns with
Treasury and the CDFI Fund, and also support our recent request of
Treasury and the CDFI Fund to hold a formal listening session with
Native CDFIs regarding the proposed reforms to the CDFI Certification
Application and related regulations before those reforms are finalized
so Native CDFIs' concerns can be directly heard and addressed (see
attached request letter).
Establish a Native Advisory Committee within Treasury and the CDFI
Fund: The current CDFI Certification reform process has illustrated to
Native CDFI leaders (yet again) the dire need for the voices of
American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian community and
economic development practitioners (including Native CDFI leaders) to
directly and substantively inform the design and implementation of
Treasury and CDFI Fund programs and policies--notably the NACA
program--that impact Indian Country, the flow of capital to Native
communities, and the ability of Native CDFIs to foster community
development and asset building in those communities. Congress should
mandate that Treasury establish this Committee, which should meet at
least annually with the Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S.
Treasurer, and more frequently with Treasury's newly established Office
of Tribal and Native Affairs.
Increase the annual Congressional appropriation for the CDFI Fund's
Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program to $50 million: As NCN
indicated in our recent letter (cosigned by 65 other organizations, see
attached) to the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, a sizeable
increase in annual NACA program funding is desperately needed to
address the significant unmet needs of Native CDFIs for lending
capital, particularly when it comes to home construction and home
ownership. For example, a 2022 NCN survey of 16 Native CDFIs (just one
quarter of the country's 64 Treasury-certified Native CDFIs) found
their projected 3-year unmet loan capital needs collectively totaled
$166 million. \10\ Meanwhile, for FY 2022, funding requests made by
applicant Native CDFIs for the NACA Base-Financial Assistance (FA)
funding exceeded the amount awarded by the CDFI Fund by 49 percent, and
their requests for NACA Technical Assistance (TA) funding exceeded the
amount awarded by the CDFI Fund by 15 percent. \11\
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\10\ NCN, ``NCN Market Demand Study'', New England Market
Research, Inc., October 2022.
\11\ For the FY 2022 funding round of the NACA Program, the CDFI
Fund received Base-FA applications from 29 organizations that requested
$25.5 million in Base-FA awards. It awarded $17.1 million to 19 of
those 29 organizations (https://www.cdfifund.gov/sites/cdfi/files/2023-
02/2022-NACA-Award-Book.pdf). The CDFI Fund also received TA
applications from 19 organizations requesting $2.7 million in TA
awards, and it awarded $2.35 million (https://www.cdfifund.gov/news/
481).
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Strengthen the HUD Section 4 Program by increasing its annual
appropriation to $50 million and establishing a 10 percent set-aside
for Native communities for FY 2024: The HUD Section 4 Capacity Building
for Community Development and Affordable Housing Program is the only
Federal program explicitly designed to increase and enhance the
capacity of community-based nonprofit organizations to effectively
serve the affordable housing and community development needs of low-
income communities. In real dollars, Congressional funding for the
Section 4 Program has decreased by more than 25 percent since 2004,
despite the fact the low-income population served by Section 4 dollars
has grown considerably. In addition, low-income families are
disproportionately bearing the brunt of surging housing,
transportation, and food costs related to rising inflation. A
significant increase to $50 million is justified for these reasons, but
also because the Section 4 Program works. Over the past 5 years,
Section 4 dollars have been deployed to construct and rehabilitate more
than 40,000 affordable homes for low-income households. Critically,
every $1 in Section 4 funding leverages more than $20 in additional
public and private investments, which vastly exceeds the 3-to-1 match
the law requires. Meanwhile, a 10 percent set-aside for Native
communities is needed because Section 4 dollars have largely bypassed
Indian Country since the program's inception, based on extensive
anecdotal evidence provided by Native nonprofit organizations dedicated
to addressing the affordable housing and community development needs of
Tribal communities. A 10 percent set-aside for Tribal communities ($5
million total) will ensure that Section 4 funding equitably serves low-
income communities across the country based on the relative breadth and
severity of their documented needs for affordable housing and community
development resources (see attached NCN's letter to Congress featuring
these requests).
Pass the Rural Housing Service Reform Act of 2023: Title III of
this legislation (S. 1389) makes the extraordinarily successful USDA
Section 502 relending demonstration program permanent and extends it to
all of Indian Country. S. 1389 authorizes the USDA Secretary to use $50
million of the existing 502 Direct Loan appropriations for a national
relending program specifically for Native communities. The
demonstration project--implemented in 2018--made two Native CDFIs
eligible borrowers under the 502 Program and enabled them to relend to
qualified families for the construction, acquisition, and
rehabilitation of affordable housing on Tribal trust land, and resulted
in those CDFIs doubling in 1 year the number of home loans that USDA
had provided on two Indian reservations in South Dakota during the
previous decade. The project demonstrated that Native CDFIs are
uniquely equipped to deploy mortgage capital efficiently and
effectively in Tribal communities, in part because of the supportive
services they provide their clients, including homebuyer education,
post-purchase and foreclosure prevention counseling, and other
technical assistance. By collaborating with USDA, Native CDFIs can
efficiently deploy mortgage capital to eligible Native families seeking
to become homeowners. This legislation should be passed by the Senate
with all due haste.
Pass the Native American Direct Loan (NADL) Improvement Act of
2023: S. 185 was part of a package of five veterans bills that went to
the Senate floor on April 26, 2023. Unfortunately, the cloture vote
failed, so the bill did not move forward. Among its many critical
provisions in support of Native veterans, the legislation: (1) creates
a $5 million NADL relending program that would allow Native CDFIs, who
intimately understand Native communities and the mortgage lending
process on Tribal trust land, to obtain a loan through the Native
American Direct Loan program at a 1 percent interest rate and relend
those funds to qualified Native veteran borrowers (the CDFI would repay
the loan to the VA Department); (2) allow veterans to use NADL to
refinance non-VA mortgages so that Native veterans have the same
opportunity as non-Native veterans to use their VA loan benefit to
refinance any existing mortgage loan; and (3) expand VA's NADL outreach
program by partnering with Tribes, tribally designated housing
entities, Native CFDIs, and local nonprofits to conduct outreach,
homebuyer education, housing counseling, post-purchase education, and
other technical assistance as needed (see attached NCN letter to U.S.
Senators for more details). Native veterans deserve access to these
much-needed home loan benefits.
Conclusion
In closing, NCN and Native CDFIs urge Congress and this
Subcommittee to build upon the focus of this hearing by continuing to
collaborate with Native CDFIs and their leaders to devise and fund
creative policy solutions that recognize and address the significant
and uniquely complex capital access needs facing Indian Country, and
the unique ability of Native CDFIs to deploy capital effectively for
Native home ownership and other community development and asset
building purposes that meet the distinct needs of each and every Native
community. Native CDFIs stand ready to work with you to advance this
goal.
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF TAMMY MORELAND
Chairperson, Minnesota Tribal Collaborative to Prevent and End
Homelessness
June 13, 2023
Aanii Boozhoo, Niigaanii Animikii Benesi Ikwe ninidizhizikaaz,
Migizi nindoodem,
Odawa Anishinaabe Kwe ndawaa, Wiikwewang nindonjiibaa.
Hello, my name is She Leads in Front Thunderbird Woman, I am Bald
Eagle Clan, an Ottawa woman from the place by the big bay.
My Government name is Tammy Moreland, I am a Tribal member of Grand
Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
I have the honor and responsibility of chairing the ``Minnesota
Tribal Collaborative to Prevent and End Homelessness'', which is a
tribally initiated and innovative approach to addressing housing and
homelessness of American Indians in Minnesota. I am honored to appear
before you today to talk about the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative's
work toward ending homelessness through State and Federal change.
Thank you, Senator Smith for calling this hearing and for inviting
me to testify on behalf of the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative.
The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative was formed in 2014 when a group
of Tribal housing and human services staff in northern and central
Minnesota began meeting together with some other supporting
organizations to learn from each other about new resources and ideas
for promising practices that help meet the unique needs of American
Indians experiencing homelessness in Minnesota.
While American Indians are about 1 percent of the general
population in Minnesota, American Indians are 12 percent of the
homeless population in Minnesota. We gave shape to the Minnesota Tribal
Collaborative to ensure that the voices of the disproportionately large
number of American Indians in Minnesota who are experiencing
homelessness is heard.
The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative developed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) which was signed in 2014 by five Tribal
governments: Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe,
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Red Lake Nation, and White Earth Nation. The
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa signed the MOU in 2018. The
MOU provides a framework for us to plan and problem-solve together. It
structures our efforts around our common purpose as we collaborate on
actions that ``address historical barriers and unique needs'' of Tribal
members experiencing housing instability and homelessness in the
Reservation and urban communities where our Tribal members live.
The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has two classes of members--
voting members and nonvoting members. Voting members are appointed by
the Tribal Councils of their Tribal governments, and are either Band
members or descendants of Federally recognized Tribal nations. Many of
the voting members have lived experience with being homeless. The
nonvoting members provide technical assistance and support to the
Collaborative, such as grant writing, reporting, and program
implementation. American Indian culture and traditions are the
foundation of the work done by the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative.
Culturally relevant approaches have proven to be effective in
addressing historical trauma and the trauma of experiencing
homelessness.
In addition to the direct services that it provides, the Minnesota
Tribal Collaborative has been a strong advocate for reforming State and
Federal law. We have been successful lobbying for changes to State and
Federal law because of our first-hand experience with homelessness and
its root causes and because we never give up. The reforms to Federal
law that the Collaborative has accomplished with Senator Tina Smith and
other allies on Capitol Hill means that not only Minnesota Tribes will
have access to increased Federal funding support but hundreds of other
Tribes throughout the United States will also be able to access those
increased resources in our shared mission to reduce homelessness in
Indian communities.
The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative is a true collaboration--it is
rare to have a meeting where a Tribe hasn't sent its representative.
Our meetings have full agendas and rotate among our different
reservations. The host Tribe provides a meal to everyone and at times
takes the other members on tours of housing or emergency shelters in
its communities. Members regularly rely on each other to help if a Band
member in need of assistance is located in a different part of
Minnesota. The Collaborative pushes to be part of meetings at the State
and Federal level and holds lawmakers accountable when they ``forget''
to include Tribes. The informal motto of the Collaborative could be,
``Nothing about us--without us.''
The Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has a formal charter and
policies and procedures that describe its decision-making process. Many
decisions are made by consensus. When a vote is taken, it is very rare
to have a vote that isn't unanimous. All members work to serve American
Indians who are experiencing homelessness in Minnesota. The issue of--
whose client it is--never affects this collaboration. Currently the
Collaborative is meeting more frequently to budget for an increase in
State funds and to explore how to improve reporting. Training and
support are provided to members who might be understaffed or need extra
help.
One of the reasons the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative was formed
was to maximize resources for American Indians who are at risk of or
experiencing homelessness. In Minnesota, American Indians are more than
12 times more likely to experience homelessness and to be homeless
longer than the white population. The most recent reservation homeless
survey (conducted in October 2018) found that half of the people
homeless on reservations were children, youth, and elders. Most people
(77 percent) met the definition of chronic or long term homeless--
homeless for over a year or having multiple episodes of homelessness
over 3 years. Nearly half of the people surveyed (47 percent) had a
chronic health condition that impacted their ability to work and find
housing.
Homelessness looks different in reservation communities; it looks
like 16 people living in a two-bedroom house that might not have
running water or someone living in an ice house or camper year around.
Before the reservation homeless survey was done in 2006, the belief was
that Indians like to double up, that it was cultural preference. Yet
the reservation homeless survey showed that 99 percent of the people
surveyed who were doubled up in overcrowded households would take
separate housing if it was affordable, safe and made available.
Applying for State funding as a collaborative increases the
likelihood of getting funding and an adequate amount of funding. The
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has been able to streamline the
application process by submitting one funding application for six
Tribes. The Collaborative has just contracted with a White Earth Band
member to have a data coordinator to improve our data collection,
reporting and financial reconciliation. The Minnesota Tribal
Collaborative is working with State agencies on honoring data
sovereignty. For centuries data on American Indians has been misused to
blame Tribes for the poor outcomes of their Tribal members. It is
imperative that entities that want data on homelessness and American
Indians be taught how to respect Tribal sovereignty. This is a complex
task topic that usually requires some hard conversations. The members
of the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative have presented on this topic at a
national level and are in the middle of ongoing conversations with
State staff.
Our collaboration is successful because the members of the
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative are fearless. We usually take the hard
way, not the easy way to accomplish our goals. And the goals aren't
just for us but we think forward several generations. The Minnesota
Tribal Collaborative wants future generations to know that we came
together with leaders to rewrite new rules for society about how to
thrive together. We experienced immense challenges but, in the end, we
succeeded. We want future generations to know this was a powerful
generation that rose from adversities and we gave them legacies and
resources to take inspiration from. We want them to look at us with awe
and courage, as we went through a difficult period of struggle and
triumph. We hope they talk about us as examples to emulate, as
something to be, and to go onward to the future with. We want to end
homelessness for our communities. The members of the Minnesota Tribal
Collaborative always show up, challenge the status quo, and hold
ourselves and others accountable for change. We have made changes;
significant changes and we intend to make more. We also believe that
nothing about us should happen without us and we push to be part of
meetings, funding, and trainings, always insisting that our voice be
heard.
During the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tribes that are part
of the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative accessed State and Federal
resources to keep people housed and to quickly rehouse people who were
homeless. We helped people stay safe and healthy from COVID-19. The six
Tribes that are part of the Minnesota Tribal Collaborative used nearly
$20 million in COVID relief funding from the Federal Government to keep
6,761 households in housing. Now we are working to address the opioid
crisis and continue our work to end homelessness. We envision a future
where everyone thrives not just survives.
Federal Requests
For Tribes to successfully end homelessness both on and off
reservations, we ask for the following assistance from Congress:
1. Authorize Tribal Access to the Emergency Solutions Grant. Tribes
and Tribal organizations should have an equitable opportunity
to benefit from this funding source so we can better provide a
broader continuum of housing assistance and services to our
homelessness populations both on and off the reservation.
2. Change the HUD Continuum of Care Definition. HUD's continuum of
care definition of homelessness does not include severe
overcrowding and substandard housing conditions to be
considered when determining whether a person is homeless. In
much of Indian Country, harsh winter conditions in isolated and
rural areas mean homeless people have no options other than
doubling up in already overcrowded homes or seeking shelter in
flimsy, temporary structures like fish shacks.
3. Include Tribes in a Formula for Pro Rata Distribution Like
Territories Are Provided. Federal assistance rarely trickles
down to Indian communities when it is sent through State
governments. Provide Tribes with greater access to more money
for community planning and development purposes and Continuum
of Care projects so Tribes can meaningfully address the root
causes of homelessness.
4. Support Tribal Efforts To Address Homelessness Among Tribal
Members as They Move Between Reservation and Urban Communities.
Mercurial Federal policies have pushed American Indians into
and out of reservation communities for decades. This disruption
of community life is one of the root causes of homelessness.
Today, the Federal Government should support Tribal efforts to
meet the needs of Tribal members where they are today. This is
a Federal Government problem that can be solved by Tribes and
the Federal Government working together.
5. Congress Should Push CMS To Approve a New Medicaid Encounter Rate
Category of Housing Services. A comprehensive approach to
continuum of care services relevant to people who are homeless,
reflected in a daily encounter rate, would allow Tribal
providers to have enough funding to pay for the inter-related
services that are needed to help move clients from homelessness
to housed and remaining housed.
Miigwetch! And thank you for your time and attention. By partnering
together and sharing resources we can end homelessness for America's
first people.
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF
SENATOR CORTEZ MASTO FROM CHELSEA FISH
Q.1. What investment--grants, low-interest loans, CDFI
investments, etc.--does your organization or member Tribes
receive from our Nation's 11 Federal Home Loan Banks?
A.1. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.2. Do you think Federal Home Loan Banks meet the housing and
community economic development investment needs of Tribes?
A.2. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.3. Do Federal Home Loan Banks provide Tribes with low-cost
financing to leverage the housing grant funds Congress provided
to Tribes?
A.3. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.4. Do you think the Federal Home Loan Banks should provide
more support for affordable housing, such as downpayment
assistance, low-cost financing, credit enhancement, or
providing a secondary market for special purpose credit
programs for Tribes?
A.4. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.5. Why are manufactured homes a popular housing choice on
Tribal lands?
A.5. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.6. For manufactured home buyers on Tribal lands, what
financing options are available to them?
A.6. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.7. Are there Federal housing programs including CDFI Funds
that help homebuyers finance a manufactured home purchase with
affordable loans? Are there affordable private sector financing
options?
A.7. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.8. Do you feel a permanent chassis is necessary for
manufactured homes in your communities? Or do you feel the
definition of manufactured home, which is limited to structures
that are built on a permanent chassis, should be changed?
A.8. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.9. Are Tribal home builders considering extreme heat, floods,
and drought in the design of their homes? If so, what are they
considering?
A.9. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.10. Are Tribal housing leaders considering preventative
action to decrease the catastrophic impact of floods, drought,
and fire? If so, what are they considering?
A.10. Response not received in time for publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR LUMMIS
FROM CHELSEA FISH
Q.1. Are there updates to programs that support the
construction and rehabilitation of Native American housing that
could make it faster and cheaper to provide additional
affordable housing units on Tribal lands?
A.1. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.2. Are there policy proposals you recommend to support Native
American home ownership on Tribal lands?
A.2. Response not received in time for publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF
SENATOR CORTEZ MASTO FROM PATRICK GOGGLES
Q.1. What investment--grants, low-interest loans, CDFI
investments, etc.--does your Tribe receive from our Nation's 11
Federal Home Loan Banks?
A.1. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.2. Do you think Federal Home Loan Banks meet the housing and
community economic development investment needs of Tribes?
A.2. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.3. Do Federal Home Loan Banks provide Tribes with low-cost
financing to leverage the housing grant funds Congress provided
to Tribes?
A.3. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.4. Do you think the Federal Home Loan Banks should provide
more support for affordable housing, such as downpayment
assistance, low-cost financing, credit enhancement, or
providing a secondary market for special purpose credit
programs?
A.4. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.5. In your testimony, you mentioned difficulties with finding
matching funds. Have you had discussions with the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Des Moines to discuss possible investments that
could match Indian Housing Block Grant funds or other programs?
A.5. Response not received in time for publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR LUMMIS
FROM PATRICK GOGGLES
Q.1. Please list the various Federal agencies and programs you
commonly work with when developing a typical housing project.
A.1. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.2. Please identify common inefficiencies when working with
these programs, such as overlapping or contradictory
requirements, where changes to the programs and their
requirements could make development faster or less expensive to
accomplish.
A.2. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.3. Please quantify the administrative burden of participating
in these programs in terms of the number of people you employ
and the portion of their work time spent on meeting
administrative requirements such as reporting.
A.3. Response not received in time for publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF
SENATOR CORTEZ MASTO FROM PETE UPTON
Q.1. What investment--grants, low-interest loans, CDFI
investments, etc.--does your organization or members receive
from our Nation's 11 Federal Home Loan Banks?
A.1. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.2. Do you think Federal Home Loan Banks meet the housing and
community economic development investment needs of Tribes?
A.2. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.3. Do Federal Home Loan Banks provide Tribes with low-cost
financing to leverage the housing grant funds Congress provided
to Tribes?
A.3. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.4. Do you think the Federal Home Loan Banks should provide
more support for affordable housing, such as downpayment
assistance, low-cost financing, credit enhancement, or
providing a secondary market for special purpose credit
programs?
A.4. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.5. How many Native American CDFis are (1) members of a
Federal Home Loan Bank and (2) receive advances?
A.5. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.6. Why are manufactured homes a popular housing choice on
Tribal lands?
A.6. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.7. For manufactured home buyers on Tribal lands, what
financing options are available to them? Are there affordable
private sector financing options?
A.7. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.8. Are there Federal housing programs including CDFI Funds
that help homebuyers finance a manufactured home purchase with
affordable loans?
A.8. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.9. Do you feel a permanent chassis is necessary for
manufactured homes in your communities? Or do you feel the
definition of manufactured home, which is limited to structures
that are built on a permanent chassis, should be changed?
A.9. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.10. Are Tribal home builders considering extreme heat,
floods, and drought in the design of their homes? If so, what
are they considering?
A.10. Response not received in time for publication.
Q.11. Are Tribal housing leaders considering preventative
action to decrease the catastrophic impact of floods, drought,
and fire? If so, what are they considering?
A.11. Response not received in time for publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR LUMMIS
FROM PETE UPTON
Q.1. HUD's Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee Program was
created to help increase Native access to home ownership by
providing a guarantee to lenders on mortgage loans made to
Native borrowers. Last December, HUD proposed a new rule that
would make Native CDFIs as eligible lenders under the 184
program. What is your experience with this program and how can
it be improved for more effective for lending on reservations?
A.1. Response not received in time for publication.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF
SENATOR CORTEZ MASTO FROM TAMMY MORELAND
Q.1. What investment--grants, low-interest loans, CDFI
investments, etc.--does your Tribe receive from our Nation's 11
Federal Home Loan Banks?
A.1. No.
Q.2. Do you think Federal Home Loan Banks meet the housing and
community economic development investment needs of Tribes?
A.2. I do not have experience with Federal Home Loan Banks.
Q.3. Do Federal Home Loan Banks provide Tribes with low-cost
financing to leverage the housing grant funds Congress provided
to Tribes?
A.3. I do not have experience with Federal Home Loan Banks.
Q.4. Do you think the Federal Home Loan Banks should provide
more support for affordable housing, such as downpayment
assistance, low-cost financing, credit enhancement, or
providing a secondary market for special purpose credit
programs?
A.4. I do not have experience with Federal Home Loan Banks.
------
RESPONSES TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS OF SENATOR LUMMIS
FROM TAMMY MORELAND
Q.1. The 2020 Census revealed that 87 percent of people who
identify as Native American live outside of Tribal areas. Given
your experience, how do Tribes split their resources to meet
the needs of their Tribal members living on and off the
reservation? How does this vary and are there best practices
that you have observed?
A.1. We often hear about how housing is a ``social determinant
of health'' which makes sense, as shelter is a core need of
humans.
Key findings from the Minnesota Homeless Mortality Report,
2017-2021 that was published January 26, 2023.
Researchers looked at data for 93,923 people experiencing
homelessness who accessed services such as shelters or
transitional housing. Key findings included: The rate of death
is 3 times higher among people who experience homelessness
People Experiencing Homelessness in Minnesota than the general
population. 20-year-olds experiencing homelessness in Minnesota
have the same rate of death as 50-year-olds in the general
population.
Mortality across each racial and ethnic group is higher
among People Experiencing Homelessness than in the general
Minnesota population. American Indian People Experiencing
Homelessness have 1.5 times higher rates of death than other
People Experiencing Homelessness and 5 times higher rates of
death than the general Minnesota population.
Deaths from substance use are 10 times higher among People
Experiencing Homelessness than the general Minnesota
population. 1 in 10 substance use deaths in Minnesota are among
People Experiencing Homelessness.
One in 3 of all deaths among PEH are caused by substance
use, especially opioids including fentanyl.
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has received a SAMHSA grant
to address opioid issues.
Initial funding for reservation focus and we asked to have
that funding expanded to focus and include urban populations.
By negotiating additional funding with this change in scope we
are able to hire two outreach workers through the collaborative
partners at White Earth to work with the Urban population.
Minnesota Tribal Collaborative has received a SAMHSA grant
to address opioid issues.
Working as a collaborative makes us stronger. We learn from
each other and support each other in the work that we do. Other
community partners come to the table to learn from us and to
support our work. With each success we have become more
confident.
Remembering that each member of the collaborative is an
equal partner. We all worked on and agree to follow our mission
``While honoring Tribal sovereignty, we will work together to
maximize resources and obtain sustainable housing options
through innovative efforts of our Tribal governments and
communities.''
Tribes have the knowledge and skills needed to effectively
reduce disparities in homelessness faced by American Indian
populations.
Investing in Tribal services leads to positive
outcomes for American Indians.
Tribes' ability to design and oversee their own
programming. Serving as a member and leader on boards
supports community and can expand opportunities to
improve lives of Tribal members. ``To make change, we
must be at the right places at the right time.''
Additional Material Supplied for the Record
STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY CEDAR BAND OF PAIUTE INDIANS, LOWER BRULE SIOUX
TRIBE, ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIS
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY COOK INLET HOUSING AUTHORITY
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[all]