U.S. AWARDS $83 MILLION IN LATEST ROUND OF TRIBAL HOUSING GRANTS
Latest infusion will benefit 74 tribes across country
Emergency management officials on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota have a new building, but they have been operating out of an old jail that’s set to be torn down.
That’s because the new building near a small airport doesn’t have water and sewer connected, said Lislie Mesteth, who runs the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s solid-waste program. A new round of grant funding that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Tuesday will make those connections and help emergency responders into their new digs.
“They never had enough money to get it built entirely, so we’ve been doing little grants here and there,” Mesteth said.
The $3.4 million grant to the Oglala Sioux Tribe is part of a third round of “imminent threat funding” from HUD, using money from the American Rescue Plan Act. The latest infusion — $83 million — will benefit 74 tribes and boost the total amount
awarded to $209 million spread among 191 tribes.
“This is thankfully, historic levels of funding in this particular program, and I know we’re grateful for it, and I know the tribal communities are as well,” said Adrianne Todman, deputy secretary of HUD. “This is a fair amount of money.”
At least one more round of funding is coming with the remaining $71 million, she said.
Tribes have been eagerly awaiting the money to cover cost overruns for existing projects and to start new ones. Tribal officials had expected more grant funding to be released last year and have been texting, emailing
and calling each other routinely for updates.
The Native Village of St. Michael in Alaska faces a housing shortage and wanted to ensure it could start building 26 tiny homes when the weather is good. The tribe got word Tuesday it will get more than $1 million for the project.
“This is once-in-a-lifetime funding for tribes,” said Hattie Keller, a housing consultant for the tribe.
The tribe already built gravel pads for the homes using $1 million in federal virus relief funding.