[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 184 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                        NAHASDA REAUTHORIZATION

  (Mrs. PELTOLA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. PELTOLA. Madam Speaker, I have heard stories from people across 
Alaska, some of the most rural and distant parts of our country, of 
about 20 people sharing a house with only three bedrooms and one 
bathroom. They sleep in shifts because they don't have enough space.
  Without enough places to live, people are being forced out of their 
communities, the communities they love and the Native cultures they 
were raised in.
  The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, or 
NAHASDA, is called the backbone of Indian housing for the essential 
support block grants and financing it guarantees in order to develop 
critical affordable housing and community facilities. However, 15 years 
of inflation since the last reauthorization has decimated housing 
production.
  I am asking Congress to reauthorize and properly fund NAHASDA. We 
cannot force Alaska Natives to make a choice between the communities of 
their place-based cultures or a roof over their head.

                          ____________________