Post by blackcrowheart on Mar 16, 2006 10:19:07 GMT -5
BIA title operations may be turned over to tribes
BIA title operations may be turned over to tribes
Posted: March 15, 2006
by: Mark Fogarty / Today correspondent
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412651
ARLINGTON, Va. - Tribes could gain control over the BIA's title
process, eliminating a major roadblock to Native homeownership.
That's the prospect Rep. Rick Renzi put before tribal housing
officials at the National American Indian Housing Council's recent
legislative conference, saying he was going to call the BIA in on the
carpet over its notoriously slow title clearances and that Congress
might take control away from the bureau if it doesn't demonstrate
real progress on the backlog.
Renzi, a Republican from Arizona, said the House of Representatives'
housing subcommittee will travel to Indian country this year to hold
a hearing in which BIA's feet will be held to the fire. The
legislator promised Indian leaders at a subcommittee hearing in Tuba
City, Ariz., on the Navajo reservation (which BIA did not attend)
that he would follow up on the problem.
''BIA is a great impediment to homeownership in Indian country around
the nation,'' he told the legislative conference, saying the bureau
routinely took 18 to 24 months on a process - the transfer of title
on a property to a new owner - that's done in 30 to 45 days by
private industry.
Back in the 1990s, a government audit found an incredible 113 staff-
year backlog in processing title transfers at BIA.
Renzi said the hearing would be held in Arizona, perhaps in the
Sedona or Camp Verde area. He said the BIA has told him that
computers and software to help speed up the process are now in place.
Congress will now set a timetable for the bureau to bring its process
in line with private industry; and if it's not met, ''tribes can take
over title searches or get private help to allow title searches.''
Getting a mortgage in Indian country requires a title search, just as
it does in the rest of the nation. BIA's title searches, called title
status reports, are analogous to the title searches and title
insurance provided by private firms like Stewart Title, Fidelity
National and First American.
Renzi called the process essential for successful economic
development in Indian country. ''Homeownership is the key,'' he
said. ''It's the absolute cornerstone.''
He also told tribal housing leaders that passage of the Native
American Housing Enhancement Act would help them better house tribal
people.
For one thing, it would allow tribal housing entities to carry over
federal money from year to year, instead of facing a ''use it or lose
it'' situation. Tribes have faced criticism over the slow pace of
committing housing funds, something they have said is a result of the
time it takes to develop projects. Projects also are delayed by bad
weather and labor issues, he noted.
In addition, NAHEA would restore YouthBuild eligibility to tribes.
Tribal youth can now earn school credit through the program, earn
money and learn a trade - vital alternatives to the epidemic of
methamphetamine traffic and abuse sweeping tribal housing projects.
Renzi said that federal Indian housing assistance has not kept pace
with inflation or the increasing costs of building materials. The
administration tried to cut Indian housing money by $109 million in
the last fiscal year, but intense lobbying managed to restore funding
to the approximate level of the year before.
The congressman, whose district contains many Native homelands such
as the Navajo Nation and two Apache reservations, endorsed NAIHC's
recommendations for increased funding, to $748 million to fund
housing block grants under the Native American Housing Assistance and
Self Determination Act and $77 million to $80 million for the Indian
Community Development Block Grant.
He was joined in his call for more housing assistance money by Sen.
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. The Democrat, in a video shown to the
conference, said 90,000 American Indians were homeless or nearly
homeless, and that in America, ''poverty still has the face of an
American Indian.''
Dorgan asked, ''Does our society believe people deserve basic
shelter? If so, then we ought to fund it.''
NAIHC itself held a press conference during its legislative meeting
to ask for the return of more than $4 million in training funds cut
by the administration for FY '07. The group uses the money to provide
more than 40 seminars a year, including hugely popular ones on the
methamphetamine crisis.
In FY '06, the administration also zeroed out the program, but
Congress restored $2 million in funding for it.
NAIHC Chairman Chester Carl, Navajo, asked for the program to be
funded at $5 million. Carl, who also heads the Navajo Housing
Authority, noted that in the last fiscal year, Indian housing
entities produced 6,000 units of housing that was either built,
bought or rehabilitated.
NAIHC Director Gary Gordon, Mohawk, noted that more than 2,000 people
took NAIHC training last year.
BIA title operations may be turned over to tribes
Posted: March 15, 2006
by: Mark Fogarty / Today correspondent
www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412651
ARLINGTON, Va. - Tribes could gain control over the BIA's title
process, eliminating a major roadblock to Native homeownership.
That's the prospect Rep. Rick Renzi put before tribal housing
officials at the National American Indian Housing Council's recent
legislative conference, saying he was going to call the BIA in on the
carpet over its notoriously slow title clearances and that Congress
might take control away from the bureau if it doesn't demonstrate
real progress on the backlog.
Renzi, a Republican from Arizona, said the House of Representatives'
housing subcommittee will travel to Indian country this year to hold
a hearing in which BIA's feet will be held to the fire. The
legislator promised Indian leaders at a subcommittee hearing in Tuba
City, Ariz., on the Navajo reservation (which BIA did not attend)
that he would follow up on the problem.
''BIA is a great impediment to homeownership in Indian country around
the nation,'' he told the legislative conference, saying the bureau
routinely took 18 to 24 months on a process - the transfer of title
on a property to a new owner - that's done in 30 to 45 days by
private industry.
Back in the 1990s, a government audit found an incredible 113 staff-
year backlog in processing title transfers at BIA.
Renzi said the hearing would be held in Arizona, perhaps in the
Sedona or Camp Verde area. He said the BIA has told him that
computers and software to help speed up the process are now in place.
Congress will now set a timetable for the bureau to bring its process
in line with private industry; and if it's not met, ''tribes can take
over title searches or get private help to allow title searches.''
Getting a mortgage in Indian country requires a title search, just as
it does in the rest of the nation. BIA's title searches, called title
status reports, are analogous to the title searches and title
insurance provided by private firms like Stewart Title, Fidelity
National and First American.
Renzi called the process essential for successful economic
development in Indian country. ''Homeownership is the key,'' he
said. ''It's the absolute cornerstone.''
He also told tribal housing leaders that passage of the Native
American Housing Enhancement Act would help them better house tribal
people.
For one thing, it would allow tribal housing entities to carry over
federal money from year to year, instead of facing a ''use it or lose
it'' situation. Tribes have faced criticism over the slow pace of
committing housing funds, something they have said is a result of the
time it takes to develop projects. Projects also are delayed by bad
weather and labor issues, he noted.
In addition, NAHEA would restore YouthBuild eligibility to tribes.
Tribal youth can now earn school credit through the program, earn
money and learn a trade - vital alternatives to the epidemic of
methamphetamine traffic and abuse sweeping tribal housing projects.
Renzi said that federal Indian housing assistance has not kept pace
with inflation or the increasing costs of building materials. The
administration tried to cut Indian housing money by $109 million in
the last fiscal year, but intense lobbying managed to restore funding
to the approximate level of the year before.
The congressman, whose district contains many Native homelands such
as the Navajo Nation and two Apache reservations, endorsed NAIHC's
recommendations for increased funding, to $748 million to fund
housing block grants under the Native American Housing Assistance and
Self Determination Act and $77 million to $80 million for the Indian
Community Development Block Grant.
He was joined in his call for more housing assistance money by Sen.
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. The Democrat, in a video shown to the
conference, said 90,000 American Indians were homeless or nearly
homeless, and that in America, ''poverty still has the face of an
American Indian.''
Dorgan asked, ''Does our society believe people deserve basic
shelter? If so, then we ought to fund it.''
NAIHC itself held a press conference during its legislative meeting
to ask for the return of more than $4 million in training funds cut
by the administration for FY '07. The group uses the money to provide
more than 40 seminars a year, including hugely popular ones on the
methamphetamine crisis.
In FY '06, the administration also zeroed out the program, but
Congress restored $2 million in funding for it.
NAIHC Chairman Chester Carl, Navajo, asked for the program to be
funded at $5 million. Carl, who also heads the Navajo Housing
Authority, noted that in the last fiscal year, Indian housing
entities produced 6,000 units of housing that was either built,
bought or rehabilitated.
NAIHC Director Gary Gordon, Mohawk, noted that more than 2,000 people
took NAIHC training last year.