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Montana tribes receive more than $14 million in funding

By Alyssa Kelly

On May 9, Montana senators Baucus and Tester announced a grant of more than $14 million for Montana tribes. According to a press release sent by Tyler Matsdorf, a Baucus representative, "Four Montana Tribes are set to provide more quality affordable homes to people of modest means thanks to grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development."

In the press release, Baucus, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, stated that: "Building and improving homes is a critically important step toward bringing more hope to Indian Country. Better places to live will lead to stronger communities, more opportunities and better health care for Montana's tribal nations."

Following the press release to the media throughout Montana, the tribes awarded the grant underwent a lot of publicity as well as questions by tribal members of how the "extra" grant money would be spent for the people of their tribes. The definition of the grants were misunderstood by the public. "The money we received from the Indian Housing Block Grant Program is annual and we've been receiving it for several years. It wasn't extra money awarded to the tribes; it is our yearly budget to operate and maintain the housing authority," says Fort Belknap Housing Authority executive director Stanley Johnson. All tribes contacted agreed, aside from Blackfeet Housing Authority, which could not be reached for comment, "The yearly NAHASDA grant helps us with funding for planning for new projects. This includes staff and administrative costs of planning for new unit," says Jason Adams, executive director of the Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority.

The proper name of the funding granted to the tribes is the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), which has been in effect since 1996. It was created to give tribes more freedom in creating the rules for their housing authorities as well as determining what part of the community they will be providing housing for. The funding is designated for low-income families whose income is 80 percent less than the median income nationally. In order for a tribe to receive funding through NAHASDA, they must create a one and five year plan for their tribal housing project. Their plan must fall under one of six categories including: development, maintenance and management, crime prevention and safety, and the creation of model housing programs. Adams, of SKHA, provided Char-koosta News the documentation the tribe had to undergo in order to obtain the grant, complete with SKHA's one and five-year tribal project plans.

"Having a place to call home is part of the American dream, and these dollars will help many Montanans achieve this dream. These dollars are not only going towards homes, they are also going towards building up communities and neighborhoods across the Big Sky state," Baucus stated in the press release. "The grants will be used for a variety of eligible affordable housing activities, including building new homes, as well as buying, or remodeling existing homes."

"The biggest problem we face as far as housing on our reservation is the lack of houses. Currently we're housing an estimated 427 members, but the waiting list for homes is estimated around 600 members," says Johnson of FBHA. The amount of funding through NAHASDA awarded to the tribes is dependent upon a characteristic formula of the current amount of houses under the Housing Authorities' management, the size of the homes, as well as the size of the tribal Housing Authority. The funding is used to maintain the current condition of the tribal Housing Authorities and there is no additional funding for expansion. "From the funding that we received, we don't have the money to provide for the need of building new Nordstrom homes or even purchase already built units. It takes a lot of money to maintain the homes we already have and make them good enough to live in. We do what we can with the money we receive," says Merle Belcourt,e Chippewa Cree Housing Authority development manager.

Although the NAHASDA funding is only in the purpose of maintenance, there are other options for the tribes to create more housing opportunities through other funding resources. "The biggest problem is that we do not have enough affordable housing units but we are always looking for new funding sources to use to provide more affordable housing for members of the CS&KT. FY 2006 we completed twelve new units in Pablo and we are currently planning for new units in Ronan FY 2008. We have estimated that we serve over 1800 tribal members with services and programs that we provide. Our current waiting lists are over 150 people," says Adams (SKHA)

"In a perfect world of housing on the reservation, everybody would live in a secure environment in good homes. There would be no more bad comments on substandard homes and everyone would keep tenant accounts receivable," says Johnson.

Char-Koosta News could not reach Senator Baucas and Senator Tester for comment.