Rounds, Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Reauthorize Native Housing Funding

Bill would expand housing resources for Native veterans, students

Jul 14, 20210

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The Cherokee Nation is partnering with the U.S. Department of Defense Innovative Readiness Training program to break ground at the future site of 21 new homes for eligible Cherokee Nation veterans and their families. Photo: Anadisgoi / Cherokee Nation

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) recently introduced legislation with Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai'i) and 6 other members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, to reform and reauthorize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA).

Enacted in 1996, NAHASDA combined nine programs at the Department of Housing & Urban Development to establish the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program, which was specifically aimed at improving tribal housing. Today, the single block grant program is the foremost housing delivery vehicle to Indian Country, awarding funds to tribes and tribal organizations through a noncompetitive block grant.

The senators' bill would reauthorize NAHASDA and reform components of the bill to reduce barriers for tribal housing development, allow IHBGs to be used to support Native students' housing needs, create greater access to home loans for Native veterans and empower tribes to develop housing rental laws. NAHASDA was last reauthorized in 2008.

https://www.indianz.com/News/2021/07/13/bill-introduced-in-senate-to-reauthorize-key-indian-housing-law/