Bill To Bolster Affordable Housing For Montana Tribes

In his continued efforts to ensure Montana Tribes can access the resources they need to keep their communities safe throughout the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.,announced recently that he secured $19,941,707 to be split between eight Montana Tribes to bolster affordable housing efforts in Indian Country as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The funding is allocated by the Indian Housing Block Grants program, which provides grants to Tribes and Tribally designated housing entities to assist in recovering from the effects of COVID-19 by helping to carry out affordable housing activities and providing affordable housing assistance to Tribal members. Tester fought to include $450 million for the IHBG program as part of the recent coronavirus relief package.

“Housing in Indian Country is a serious problem, and it’s unacceptable that during a global public health crisis — where we’re encouraging folks to stay at home as much as possible — that so many Native American families don’t have access to quality, affordable housing,” said Tester. “Native communities are already some of the hardest hit by COVID-19 in Montana, and I’m proud to have secured this funding as part of the recent coronavirus relief package that will help Montana Tribes provide critical resources to families so they can keep a roof over their heads without emptying their pocketbooks.”

Currently, about 90,000 Native American families are homeless or under-housed. A 2013 National American Indian Housing Council report found that 40 percent of on-reservation housing is substandard, compared to 6 percent of all off-reservation housing in the United States. NAIHC also found that nearly one-third of reservation homes are overcrowded, less than half are connected to public sewer systems, and 16 percent lack indoor plumbing. In 2017, HUD documented a need of at least 68,000 new units in Indian Country to address the high percentage of substandard homes and the overcrowded living conditions in Native communities.

The breakdown of IHBG funding for Montana Tribes is as follows: Crow Tribe – $1,927,320 Blackfeet Tribe – $4,697,346 Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy – $1,736,485 Fort Belknap Indian Community – $1,413,925 Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes – $3,379,779 Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians – $1,349,563 Northern Cheyenne Tribe – $1,986,921 Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes – $3,450,368 Over the past year, Tester has met with Montana Tribes to discuss the resources tribal leaders need to get their communities through this crisis. He used their input to fight for and secure more than $32 billion in targeted funding for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian priorities in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 while ensuring that distribution of relief to Indian Country is expedited, funds are non-competitive, and the funding is structured so tribes have longer spending windows.