The Native American Housing Assistance
And Self-Determination Act of 1996
(NAHASDA)

For nearly two decades, government-funded housing development took place under fairly rigid constraints imposed by state and federal agencies, which limited the ability of housing authorities to truly meet local needs. Federal procurement regulations meant that a contract for Alaska homes could go to a builder with little or no Alaska construction experience, while government wage regulations encouraged contractors to bring workers from outside rather than hire locally. The first affected the quality of the homes; the second alienated the very people for whom the homes were being built.

To address the local hire issue, in recent years BBHA adopted “force accounting” methods whereby the
housing authority serves as the general contractor for a project. That this and other problems were ever addressed is due in large part to the work of your locally-appointed housing commissioners. But more than 20 years would pass before Congress came to deal with the root of the problem.

The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 represented a fundamental change in the way Native American housing programs are administered. Similar to the way compacting has developed between federal agencies and Native tribes, NAHASDA puts responsibility for program management in the hands of the people most effected. In Alaska, NAHASDA gives local village councils the power to decide how housing dollars will be spent in their community.

NAHASDA’s first year in Bristol Bay saw Kokhanok residents dedicate a part of their Indian Housing Block Grant block putting village residents to work repairing home foundations.

Ekwok, Ivanof Bay, Nondalton and Ugashik residents planned home weatherization, to provide local jobs and help homeowners save on winter fuel bills. A number of village councils decided the best way to spend their money was for utility subsidies for tribal members hurt by the 1997-98 fishing disasters.

Under NAHASDA, village councils develop and administer a housing plan custom-tailored to the needs of their village. Because the Act’s accounting and reporting requirements are complex, 22 Bristol Bay villages named BBHA their Tribally Designated Housing Entity (TDHE) to provide technical assistance for developing and implementing village housing plans. By consensus this partnership authorizes BBHA to use half of those villages’ NAHASDA funding for traditional housing development; how the balance is spent is up to local village councils.

The transition to NAHASDA was complicated by contractual obligations for which regional housing authorities, BBHA included, still bear responsibility. More than 60 percent of BBHA’s homebuyers are years away from getting title to their homes under their mortgage-like Mutual Help and Occupancy Agreements (MHOAs). BBHA must and will continue to fulfill its part of the MHOA contract with those homebuyers. Funds for this work are derived from an Indian Housing Block Grant to the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, recognized under NAHASDA as the regional tribe.

Technical assistance extends to new and ongoing partnerships with various state and federal agencies. The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is an important partner with BBHA, participating in three low-income housing projects and an elders’ assisted living project due to be built in Dillingham in the summer of 1999.

Funds from the federal Office of Native American Programs (ONAP) have helped establish Boys and Girls Clubs in the Bristol Bay Borough, New Stuyahok and Dillingham. ONAP also awarded BBHA $2 million to begin work on a regional vocational education and training center, to be housed in a dormitory and office complex of King Salmon’s decommissioned Air Force Base. The grant award was earned through cooperation and continuing partnerships with Bristol Bay’s regional, village and tribal entities, similar to the partnerships that originally established Alaska’s regional authorities.

That 350 Bristol Bay families remain on a waiting list for homes here is an indication that the job begun 25 years ago is far from complete. NAHASDA and partnerships such as those with AHFC are providing new tools for Bristol Bay residents to find creative solutions for technologically appropriate, economically helpful, cost-effective housing for those who need it most.

Back | Top | Home