CASE STUDY: THE OHKAY OWINGEH PUEBLO TRIBE AND THE OWE’NEH BUPINGEH PROJECT - LEVERAGING SUPPORT VIA CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT Interviewee - Tomasita Duran | Housing Director
THE PUEBLO OF OHKAY OWINGEH TDHE BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT The Ohkay Owingeh tribe, whose name translates from their native language Tewa to English means “Place of the Strong People”, resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is one of the eight northern pueblo tribes. The Ohkay Owingeh has a population of 2700 enrolled members and growing and has over 2700 acres of tribal land. The per capita income in 2018 of the Ohkay Owingeh tribe sits at $13,051 which is less than 7% higher than the 2018 national poverty line of $12,140.89 Traditionally the Ohkay Owingeh tribe developed flat-roofed attached duplex clustered in close proximity to one another around the village plaza. The village plaza serves as the primary social hub for the tribe where gatherings where held, people bonded, and supporting businesses and services could be found. The Ohkay Owingeh, used adobe clay to construct pueblo houses which date back as far as 700 years old. The typical Ohkay Owingeh pueblo size ranges from 1,200 to 1,600 sq. ft on average with the largest being 3,000 sq. ft. Ohkay Owingeh pueblo homes feature a large multi-purpose room used for sleeping and cooking, and on average range from 1 to 2 stories in height. Since the passage of NAHASDA in 1996 and creation of TDHEs in 1997, Tomasita Duran has served as Ohkay Owingeh’s TDHE housing director. According to Ms. Duran, in her own words “serving as a housing director for more than 3 years in tribes is rare, let alone for someone to serve for over 20+ years.” Duran notes the fact she has been in her position for an extended amount of time has afforded her the opportunity to learn by trial and error and learn the nuances of HUD programs and find ways to work around some challenges they pose for housing development on Ohkay Owingeh tribal lands. She also notes that for many tribes experiencing consistent routine turnover of housing directors makes it even more difficult to plan and implement necessary housing development for their tribes.
1937 HOUSING ACT Upon assuming the position as housing director in 1997, Duran received 146 units built by HUD under the Housing Act of 1937. Today Duran now manages 26 units that will soon be conveyed in the next couple of years. Duran describes the Housing Act of 1937 units as single family detached units averaging 810 sq. ft. Within the Ohkay Owingeh tribe the 1937 units are referred to as “scattered sites”, mostly due in part to the fact they are scattered across tribal land and away from the tribal center plaza. Duran notes maintenance expenses and cultural adjustment to the introduction of a group of single-family detached housing as two key challenges with the 1937 Housing units. The introduction of new materials and housing typologies in the late 1960’s, such as side paneling, gable roof, garages, led to poor maintenance upkeep of homes from tribal members unfamiliar with new materials. 89
Ibid. U.S. Census Information for Native Americans. (2020)
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