Where: Spokane Indian Reservation, Wellpinit, Stevens County, Washington
Problem: Low-income Tribal members lack access to affordable housing and job opportunities.
Solution: RCAC staff works with the Tribe to become a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) Section 523 Mutual Self-Help Housing Program grantee.
The Spokane Indian Reservation (SIR) has a population of almost 3,000; employment opportunities are limited. Population within the SIR boundaries is largely Native American and a significant proportion is low-income. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has documented Tribal unemployment rates averaging between 43 and 77 percent.
When the 1937 Act Mutual Help Program that had assisted thousands of Tribal members ended, the opportunities to achieve affordable home ownership slowed or stopped altogether. Timothy Horan, executive director of the Spokane Indian Housing Authority (SIHA) wanted to find a new model to assist low-income residents.
RCAC staff worked with SIHA to apply to the USDA Section 523 Mutual Self-Help Housing Program for $292,303 to construct 11 homes. Now, RCAC is providing USDA Section 502 loan packaging training and helping SIR to work with potential homeowners to secure 502 loans; addressing Bureau of Indian Affairs lease questions; updating materials and cost estimates; and facilitating meetings with state RD and SIHA staff. Already community groups, such as the Indian Health Services clinic staff, have volunteered labor to support their fellow Tribal members in obtaining their first homes.
Under the self-help program, participants are required to provide at least 65 percent of the labor to build their home and their neighbors’ homes with professional supervision. They work 35 hours per week, in addition to their day jobs, for almost a year. This “sweat equity” is contributed in lieu of a down payment, creating an affordable mortgage.
“The beneficiaries are largely expected to be young low-income families with at least one employed member and single mothers. They are expected to come from every walk of life on the reservation and be primarily in the trades with high school education. Unique about this group will be its desire to embrace self-reliance and as individuals as well as Tribal members looking toward the future to embrace the same ethos of self-reliance that made their ancestors successful, strong and proud,” said Horan.
RCAC also worked with SIR Tribal leaders through the Building Rural Economies initiative, which provides training in comprehensive community economic development to support and develop local assets and talents. RCAC builds the capacity for local sponsoring organizations to network, plan and implement economic development initiatives in rural and Tribal communities. SIHA has just created the Three Bands Construction Company to perform all SIHA’s work, Tribal work and work for other Tribes. It is already projecting nearly $3 million of new construction contracts and 15 new jobs in FY 2016.
