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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 |
Indian housing money cut
By Mark Fogarty, Today correspondent
Mar 2, 2010
It’s either feast or famine for American Indian housing.
In fiscal year 2010, the federal Indian Housing Block Grant was funded for a record $700 million. In addition, tribes got a one-time boost from the stimulus of $510 million for housing, for a total of $1.2 billion.
But the fiscal 2011 request would cut the block grant to just $578 million, the lowest it has been in many years. That’s nearly 50 percent below the FY 2010 amount.
The cuts come as part of President Barack Obama’s pledge to freeze spending in certain areas to try to keep deficits down. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is one of the federal departments included in the freeze.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan cited the stimulus amount of $500 million as the rationale for the cut.
The National American Indian Housing Council is “concerned that the budget request underfunds most Native housing and community development programs.”
The budget request also zeroes out a couple of housing categories, like NAIHC’s technical assistance program and the Native Hawaiian Loan Guarantee (section 184A). These amounts may be adjusted, however, by Congressional action.
The FY 2011 request calls for $2 million to guarantee NAHASDA Title VI loans, and $8 million to guarantee HUD section 184 loans, as well as $6 million to go towards “Transformation Initiatives.” The Native Hawaiian housing block grant is set to be funded at $10 million.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/85845482.html |
