The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) released a new resource, Tribal Housing Stability Report: Supporting Tribal Housing Stability with Pandemic Response Funds, last month. The report details how funds from several Treasury-administered pandemic relief programs were spent in Native communities and focuses on three funding sources used to support housing stability: the Emergency Rental Assistance program (known as “ERA1”; Tribes were not allocated any of the second tranche of ERA, known as “ERA2”); State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF), and the Homeowners Assistance Fund (HAF). The report is the latest research revealing how Tribal governments and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) successfully used federal funds to address barriers to housing. The report mentions several Tribes and TDHEs that are members of the United Native American Housing Association – NLIHC’s first Tribal partner.
To support Tribal governments’ access to Treasury funds, Secretary Janet Yellen created the Office of Tribal and Native Affairs, overseen by the Treasurer of the United States, Chief Marilynn Malerba, the first Native American to hold the position. “The support we have seen for Tribal economies under the Biden-Harris administration has been a lifeline for Native Americans, who experience a poverty rate twice the national average,” explained Chief Lynn Malerba in a press statement addressing the new report. “Housing in particular is critical for economic stability, self-determination, and wealth building. [The] report demonstrates the measurable impact federal programs have had on increasing housing supply and security throughout Indian Country.”
The report summarizes Treasury’s role in Tribal economic development, the state of housing on Native lands, and how pandemic recovery funding was used to address needs across the “Tribal Housing Continuum,” including emergency, transitional, and permanent housing. Underscoring the success of pandemic relief programs in Native housing, the report includes examples of how Tribes and TDHEs used ERA1, SLFRF, and HAF to create a solid foundation for Native families in their communities. Nations and TDHEs from the United Native American Housing Association featured in the report include the Chippewa Cree Housing Authority, the Blackfeet Nation, the Winnebago Tribe, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
Read the report here.