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Case Study: The Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo Tribe and the Owe’neh Bupingeh Project
CASE STUDY: THE OHKAY OWINGEH PUEBLO TRIBE AND THE OWE’NEH BUPINGEH PROJECT - LEVERAGING SUPPORT VIA CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Interviewee - Tomasita Duran | Housing Director
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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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Additionally, Duran notes, an adverse effect of the construction of HUD 1937 units was it prompted families to relocate to new units and leave behind their traditional Pueblo dwellings. Tribal members usually only return to Pueblo dwellings during the summer months for feasting celebrations. As a result, traditional Pueblo dwellings have and continue to deteriorate as more tribal members spend more time occupying new units.
Today the Ohkay Owingeh is facing a situation where traditional Pueblo dwellings, 1937 housing units, and planned new construction all need funding. The non-competitive IHBG current allotment alone is not enough to cover all simultaneously. In regard to the cultural impact of the 1937 housing units. Duran states the scattered housing units located away from the plaza center” heavily impacted the social network within the tribe”, since families and individuals are not in close proximity to one another. According to Duran, living in a close proximity to center plaza helped tribal members build bonds and hold each other accountable. Duran continued to express: “Ohkay Owingeh tribe saw a degradation of morality from individuals who were accustomed to living in close quarters went to live by themselves and fell to their own vices to cope such as domestic violence against women.” Despite Duran’s criticisms of the 1937 HUD program, she expresses at the very least HUD covered project cost in their entirety.
NAHASDA
The Ohkay Owingeh tribe in the past year 2019 received $800,464 from the NAHASDA non-competitive IHBG, which has also been the general average annual allocation for Ohkay Owingeh since 1999. According to Duran:
“NAHASDA was a step in the right direction for tribes, however it still can be improved. One on hand it enables tribes to develop housing types they want, but there is never enough money to complete a project [with NAHASDA funds] alone. On another end, it also forced tribes to learn how to leverage money which is needed in
Indian Country.” - Tomasita Duran (Ohkay Owingeh TDHE)
Duran reflects amongst one of the hardest initial challenges she faced assuming the position as director in 1997, was understanding how to leverage funds and stretch NAHASDA IHBG farther. She notes given there was relatively little training from HUD on how to utilize the fund, she had to learn quickly trial and error. Duran believes NAHASDA can be improved is if HUD provides innovative training on how to leverage funding. Duran expresses leveraging funds is the most complex challenge introduced by HUD recently, that also tends to drive housing directors away after a year. Overall Duran remained positive about the NAHASDA itself but emphasized more funding can be allocated to Ohkay Owingeh to help build a project without having to leverage so many additional funding sources.
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LIHTC
Duran describes learning the specifics and regulations around LIHTC housing early on was one of her hardest experiences as a housing director. Several factors made learning and implementing LIHTC projects more difficult than usual, such as producing a competitive application for the state of NM and understanding specific regulations to leverage HUD programs to cover project cost. However, Duran notes, gaining internal support within the Ohkay Owingeh tribal council was by far “incredibly difficult”. One conditionality of LIHTC projects enables an investor seeking tax credits who puts forth equity on a LIHTC project to own 99% of a project for an average of 10-15 years. The other 1% of the project is owned by a non-profit agency or in this case the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE. Although technically speaking, the Ohkay Owingeh tribe manages and collects rent from enrolled tribal members inhabiting units, the majority of rent collected goes towards borrowed equity from private investors who own 99% of the project until their principle is returned.
In 2001, Duran attempted to construct Ohkay Owingeh first LIHTC project on tribal land, which caused uproar within the tribal council, the governing body in the Ohkay Owingeh tribe.
“The tribal council was skeptical and against the idea of constructing a project that would give ownership away to a non-Ohkay Owingeh entity. Before I could even begin developing LIHTC projects I had to convince the tribal council that these [LIHTC] projects were not going to take anything away from the Ohkay Owingeh tribe. After a series of internal conversations, training on LIHTC projects, and bringing in outside experts on LIHTC to education the tribal council and housing authority on the process, LIHTC projects were permitted on Ohkay Owingeh land.”
- Tomasita Duran (Ohkay Owingeh TDHE)
Duran expresses upon coming into her position, initially HUD offered almost zero training on LIHTC projects. Duran sees the lack of knowledge around LIHTC projects in Indian Country as a major roadblock for many TDHEs, especially those with inexperienced housing directors. Besides convincing the tribal council to permit LIHTC projects on tribal land; Duran notes initially understanding the competitive application process and regulations was challenging. In regard to construction cost, rent cost structure, environmental review protocol and cost, and abiding to design regulations put forth by LIHTC, Duran is neutral to whether they pose challenges for her, but she can see other tribes having various issues with the structure of LIHTC.
TDHE INNOVATION: CULTURAL REDEVELOPMENT & MENTORING
Cultural Redevelopment
Despite the various challenges imposed by HUD regulations and programs. Housing director Tomasita Duran’s leadership and ability to leverage competitive grants and donations has enabled Ohkay Owingeh to pursue an unprecedented historical cultural redevelopment project. In 2005, the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE announced the Owe’neh Bupingeh project which sets out to renovate at least 25 homes in the Ohkay Owingeh historical plaza, which dates
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back to over 700 years. The Owe’neh Bupingeh provides culturally significant housing to the Ohkay Owingeh tribe. Renovated Pueblo dwellings reside along the historical plaza and feature updated amenities and appliances in addition to traditional use of adobe building material. The estimated cost of the project is roughly 14 million dollars, in which as of March 2020, Ohkay Owingeh is seeking the remaining 4 million to complete the last phases of remaining units of the project. Most recently in 2019, Ohkay Owingeh was awarded the maximum 5 million dollars allocation from the competitive IHBG, in which a large portion will go towards completing the Owe’neh Bupingeh project. Additionally, Duran has found success in celebrating and championing Ohkay Owingeh TDHE’s cultural redevelopment project from non-Indian and non-HUD sources. Foundations such as the Kellogg Foundation awarded Ohkay Owingeh with $100,000, as well as assisted Ohkay Owingeh raise over $300,000 through the private sector in 2016. Duran notes soliciting support from the private sector was a new territory for the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE, that took a lot of learning and assistance from the Kellogg Foundation. Since announcing the Owe’neh Bupingeh project, the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE has garnered international attention from government officials as far as Morocco and China, who are interested in the cultural tourism potential impact this project has.
Figure 8. Owe’nah Bupingeh’s Pueblo dwellings and main plaza (2020)
(Source: Minesh Bacrania. (2020). The Architect’s Newspaper)
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Figure 9. Owe’nah Bupingeh’s Pueblo dwelling exterior (2019)
(Source: Atkin Olshin Schade Architects. (2019). Owe’neh Bupingeh)
Despite the growing interest around the Owe’neh Bupingeh project. The Ohkay Owingeh TDHE encountered several challenges rehabilitating traditional Pueblo dwellings pertaining to past HUD cultural misunderstanding. Upon HUD’s arrival to the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh, HUD introduced stucco as a new material that was marketed to be a better material replacement to Ohkay Owingeh adobe clay building material. Through the development of the Owe’neh Bupingeh project, Ohkay Owingeh TDHE and building consultants have discovered stucco does relatively little to seal Pueblo dwellings from water from seeping through wall foundations which has led to the accelerated deterioration of original dwellings. To address this issue the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE has returned to the usage of traditional adobe clay, which was once deemed insufficient for construction by HUD regulations prior to NAHASDA.
Another challenge that became more apparent during the rehabilitation of the Owe’neh Bupingeh sorting through the complicated claims of ownership of renovated units. The introduction of HUD units from the Housing Act of 1937 inadvertently complicated traditional housing inheritance management systems. Ohkay Owingeh households who moved into new HUD projects often neglected to appropriately document inheritance of their original Pueblo dwelling. Duran notes in some pueblo tribes a daughter would inherit a pueblo property in its entirety. However, within the Pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh, rooms and portions of a pueblo dwelling are assigned to a child. This unique inheritance structure creates situations where the oldest daughter might get the kitchen, the youngest son might get the back bedroom, the second oldest daughter the front area, and etc. Duran notes that one of the initial challenges the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE faced in pursuing the Owe’neh Bupingeh project, was figuring out the inheritance titles and resolving land claims.
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Figure 10 & 11. Owe’nah Bupingeh’s Pueblo dwelling interior (2019)
(Source: Atkin Olshin Schade Architects. (2019). Owe’neh Bupingeh)
Mentoring
In addition to pursuing cultural redevelopment housing projects, Duran is taking steps to close the knowledge gap within housing development in the Ohkay Owingeh TDHE. Historically up until the passage of NAHASDA, Indian housing development was managed by the BIA, followed by HUD and Indian Housing Agencies outside of tribes. As a result, this created a knowledge gap of necessary skills needed to fulfill the duties of a housing director within tribes. This knowledge gap has also given way to high housing director turnover rates, which equates to inefficient performing TDHEs. To combat the high turnover rate and gaps of knowledge in housing development. Duran, who hopes to retire soon, has taken upon herself to mentor and groom her current project manager who will assume the position of housing director once she retires.
Ultimately while Duran affirms NAHASDA is a step in the right direction for tribes across the nation. Duran cautions that nothing can prepare one to take on the roles and expectations entrusted upon a housing director:
“It’s [being a housing director] challenging because of what you have to deal with, and it’s hard to maintain a consistent Director. A lot of tribes housing director positions have a high turnover rate because of what one has to deal with on the job. As a result, many new directors are inexperienced and do not understand the complexity in building housing or utilizing LIHTC.”
- Tomasita Duran (Ohkay Owingeh TDHE)
