The Biden Administration is setting aside money for affordable housing in tribal communities across the country.
Representatives from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development were at the Pine Creek Indian Reservation of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi in Fulton on Wednesday.
Richard Monocchio is the principle deputy assistant secretary for HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing. He was with tribal leaders when he announced $150 million in competitive grant funding through the Indian Housing Block Grant Program. The grant program is to be used for affordable housing projects that benefit low-income American Indian and Alaska Native communities living on tribal lands.
The funding is in addition to the $1.1 billion HUD committed to tribal housing and community development nationwide in mid-May.
From the podium, Monocchio noted the executive order President Joe Biden signed last year giving tribal nations greater access to federal funding and more autonomy in how they use the funds they receive.
“In the spirit of the executive order, it’s just more than words. It’s actually putting money where our mouth is.”
Access to government funding hasn’t always been afforded to Native American tribes.
“We are looking at all of our funding notices and making sure that tribal entities and tribes are guaranteed access to some of these funds.”
Neil Whitegull is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the area administrator of HUD’s Eastern Woodlands Office in Chicago.
Whitegull said the housing shortage on Michigan reservations amounts to about 9,500 units. He also said that the Pine Creek Indian Reservation, which received funding for eight units in 2020, still needs another 280 homes.
“I know a lot of times as Native Americans we've been here and we've seen people that have said, ‘Oh yeah, we'd like to help Indians.’ And they take a picture and they go away. We never see it,” Whitegull said.
“But there's been a commitment here, with the increase in funding, grants, and this administration that is bringing their folks out. And there's a real commitment, I think, to Native American tribes that we've never seen before.”
Tribes can apply for the grants at grants.gov.
