THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) & TRIBAL HOUSING POLICY OVERVIEW The following section will provide an overview of three prominent HUD housing policies that are either actively being utilized to facilitate housing development on tribal land or being factored into HUD formulas for grant dispersion. The following policies and programs will be overviewed: The Housing Act of 1937, the Native American Housing Assistance and SelfDetermination Act of 1996, LIHTC, and the HEARTH Act of 2012. I conclude each overview of a program with an analysis of the program under the analytic framework scholars Wilkson and Biggs in efforts to measure a program’s likelihood to facilitate assimilation or encourage self-determination.
I. HOUSING ACT OF 1937 Description The Housing Act of 1937 was signed into law on September 1, 1937 under President Roosevelt during the tail end of the Great Depression. The main intent behind the Housing Act of 1937 was to address the housing conditions of “slums” and provide safe and sanitary conditions for low-income families whose needs were largely being ignored by the market. It is important to note initially at the signing of the 1937 Housing Act, American Indians were excluded as being beneficiaries of the act until 1961, when HUD and BIA determined Indian tribes can part-take in rental assistance programs for low-income families and amended it to incorporate public housing development on tribal land. To better serve Indian tribes the 1937 Housing Program expanded to include upwards of 14 programs under its umbrella. Following the passage of the Native American Housing Assistance and Determination Act of 1996, the Housing Act of 1937 was suspended. The last round of 1937 housing units was completed in 1997. Public housing built through Mutual Housing and Turnkey programs initially maintained through HUD will receive funding for upwards of 25 years of their completion or until a unit is paid off by the tribal member applicant.71 Key Characteristics Management & Governance • Pre-NAHASDA: Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) & Indian Housing Authorities (IHA) • Top-Down Management: Tribes submit a list of households seeking housing units to an Indian Housing Authorities in their area; the IHA submits a list of households seeking housing to HUD. HUD awards housing to select households on the list. Project Development & Maintenance • Pre-NAHASDA: HUD financed the entire development process of a project from predevelopment cost, construction cost, and maintenance and operation cost. 71 United States General Accounting Office. (1997). Challenges Facing HUD’s Indian Housing Program. Washington DC. Retrieved from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-105/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-RCED-97-105.pdf
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