Post by Okwes on Aug 15, 2006 18:41:29 GMT -5
Indians stymied in buying homes
Posted by: "tamra@NDNnews.com" tamra@NDNnews.com tamra_ndnnews
Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:51 am (PST)
Visionary Art by Willow Arlenea, Stationery by CloudeightIndians stymied in buying homes
Mark Shaffer
Republic Flagstaff Bureau
Aug. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
Don't remind Richard Powskey of the problems in building a home on an Indian reservation.
Powskey, a Hualapai Tribe firefighting supervisor, has waited five years for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to get the necessary paperwork together to go to the bank for financing a home on his leased 5-acre home site.
He hopes his good credit rating will outweigh his lack of off-reservation collateral in acquiring a $100,000 loan to build on land he can't own because it's held in trust for the tribe by the federal government. But that's anything but certain.
An abundance of stories like Powskey's prompted the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services to hold a subcommittee hearing recently on the Yavapai-Apache Reservation to try to knock down the barriers to Native American homeownership.
It's a vexing problem.
"The red tape is just unbearable," Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said. "It takes two to three years to get to the point to even talk about a loan for a homes. People just give up and move to the border towns."
There's an estimated shortage of about 30,000 homes among the 20 Arizona tribes. Even if those homes were built, lack of income and all the title, financing and collateral problems would knock a big chunk of potential homeowners out of the mix.
Not to mention that Native American homeowners don't own the land on which their dwellings are placed.
Nearly 56 million acres of land is held in trust for tribes by the federal government, and most reservations issue either 25- or 50-year leases to each homeowner with the BIA overseeing the process. Because leases can't be sold, and a host of other complicated title issues, lenders are reluctant to issue loans on reservations.
"It's a horrible situation," said Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., a member of the Housing and Community Development subcommittee.
"Right now, if a young Navajo or Apache wants to build equity and wealth, they have to buy a home off-reservation. And, if they want to help their people through developing a business on the reservations, they have a long commute."
Progress is being made in expediting housing paperwork, BIA officials said at the hearing. The agency's Phoenix office said a $10 million computer software system, which centralizes Native American housing and land records, is expected to come online early next year and resolve in hours what, in the past, has taken months and years.
But Native American leaders say the lack of ability to build equity in homes is one of the top problems in Indian country.
The Navajo Nation has been one of the most aggressive tribes in trying to build a competitive housing market while not violating the trust status of its land.
Last month, Shirley signed documents removing the BIA from oversight of the tribe's business leases.
"The next thing is for us to get that control over our home-site leases," said Chester Carl, chief executive officer of the Navajo Housing Authority. "We want these to be freely traded within the tribe and people will be able to make money without us violating our trust status."
Jamie Fuller, chairman of the Yavapai-Apache Nation, said there isn't enough of a market among his tribe's 750 members to anticipate any housing market momentum.
"They are going to have to look at their equity as saving money because they didn't have to pay for the land, insurance and infrastructure," Fuller said.
Reach the reporter at mark.shaffer@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8057.
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0813nativehousing0813.html
Posted by: "tamra@NDNnews.com" tamra@NDNnews.com tamra_ndnnews
Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:51 am (PST)
Visionary Art by Willow Arlenea, Stationery by CloudeightIndians stymied in buying homes
Mark Shaffer
Republic Flagstaff Bureau
Aug. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
Don't remind Richard Powskey of the problems in building a home on an Indian reservation.
Powskey, a Hualapai Tribe firefighting supervisor, has waited five years for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to get the necessary paperwork together to go to the bank for financing a home on his leased 5-acre home site.
He hopes his good credit rating will outweigh his lack of off-reservation collateral in acquiring a $100,000 loan to build on land he can't own because it's held in trust for the tribe by the federal government. But that's anything but certain.
An abundance of stories like Powskey's prompted the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services to hold a subcommittee hearing recently on the Yavapai-Apache Reservation to try to knock down the barriers to Native American homeownership.
It's a vexing problem.
"The red tape is just unbearable," Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said. "It takes two to three years to get to the point to even talk about a loan for a homes. People just give up and move to the border towns."
There's an estimated shortage of about 30,000 homes among the 20 Arizona tribes. Even if those homes were built, lack of income and all the title, financing and collateral problems would knock a big chunk of potential homeowners out of the mix.
Not to mention that Native American homeowners don't own the land on which their dwellings are placed.
Nearly 56 million acres of land is held in trust for tribes by the federal government, and most reservations issue either 25- or 50-year leases to each homeowner with the BIA overseeing the process. Because leases can't be sold, and a host of other complicated title issues, lenders are reluctant to issue loans on reservations.
"It's a horrible situation," said Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., a member of the Housing and Community Development subcommittee.
"Right now, if a young Navajo or Apache wants to build equity and wealth, they have to buy a home off-reservation. And, if they want to help their people through developing a business on the reservations, they have a long commute."
Progress is being made in expediting housing paperwork, BIA officials said at the hearing. The agency's Phoenix office said a $10 million computer software system, which centralizes Native American housing and land records, is expected to come online early next year and resolve in hours what, in the past, has taken months and years.
But Native American leaders say the lack of ability to build equity in homes is one of the top problems in Indian country.
The Navajo Nation has been one of the most aggressive tribes in trying to build a competitive housing market while not violating the trust status of its land.
Last month, Shirley signed documents removing the BIA from oversight of the tribe's business leases.
"The next thing is for us to get that control over our home-site leases," said Chester Carl, chief executive officer of the Navajo Housing Authority. "We want these to be freely traded within the tribe and people will be able to make money without us violating our trust status."
Jamie Fuller, chairman of the Yavapai-Apache Nation, said there isn't enough of a market among his tribe's 750 members to anticipate any housing market momentum.
"They are going to have to look at their equity as saving money because they didn't have to pay for the land, insurance and infrastructure," Fuller said.
Reach the reporter at mark.shaffer@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8057.
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0813nativehousing0813.html