Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $55.2 million to 77 Native American tribes throughout the country to improve housing conditions and to stimulate economic development in their communities. HUD’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) Program is a competitive program that supports a wide range of community development and affordable housing activities, from new housing for individual families to community amenities like rec centers or water lines.
“These grants will support our Native American communities as they work to improve housing conditions and neighborhoods,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “HUD will continue to be a steadfast partner to tribes as they design and execute their community development plans.”
With a deep need for more affordable housing in tribal communities, most of this year’s project winners will use their ICDBG funds to build homes or to rehabilitate dilapidated housing, in order to alleviate homelessness, relieve overcrowding, and avoid members having to leave their community – spurring jobs and economic development along the way.
Many tribes will also use the funds for other community needs. For example, the Karuk Tribe in California will use its award to build a new 4,400-square-foot Workforce Development and Training Center. In Maine, the Penobscot Tribe will build 24 new senior rental housing units that are energy efficient in an apartment-type setting in order to help the unmet need for affordable senior housing. In Texas, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe will improve the public water quality and pipeline-carrying capacity for more 89 homes and 12 nonresidential buildings on the east side of the Alabama-Coushatta Reservation.
The ICDBG program was established in 1977 to help Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages meet their community development needs, including decent housing, healthy living environments, and economic opportunities. Federally recognized Indian tribes, bands, groups or nations (including Alaska Indian, Aleuts and Eskimos,) Alaska Native villages, and eligible tribal organizations can compete for this funding. The grant awardees can use the funding to build new housing, fix existing housing, buy land for housing; or for infrastructure projects including roads, water and sewer projects; and to spur economic development including jobs.
HUD administers six programs that are specifically targeted to American Indian, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian individuals and families, and federally recognized tribal governments. Through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), HUD will provide more than $730 million to fund programs to support housing and development initiatives in American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities. Through innovative programming, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments have championed sustainable and community-driven solutions to their housing and community development challenges.