Why Cherokee Nation Needs a Permanent Housing Act

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By Chuck Hoskin Jr

September 15, 2024

Guest Opinion. We have a problem that threatens to become a permanent one. Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I propose a permanent solution.

A housing crisis grips the Cherokee Nation Reservation in two respects. 

First is the larger crisis that impacts our region, our state, and the whole country. As I wrote in August, there is a shortage of housing that is not unique to Cherokee Nation. The problem is everywhere. It impacts citizens of our nation in the form of high rents, scarcity of available housing and insufficient paths to home ownership.

Second is a problem of our own creation. This problem is a “good problem.” In 1999, Cherokee Nation effectively stopped building houses. That changed in 2011 with the election of Chief Bill John Baker and Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden, who championed the New Construction Home Ownership Program (NCHOP).

The Baker-Crittenden NCHOP program offered a path to home ownership for Cherokee Nation citizens who owned their own land and “landless” applicants who await new housing developments. Under their leadership, hundreds of Cherokee Nation citizens received new homes.

The program has been a success but revealed a great challenge: a huge unmet demand. When Deputy Chief Warner and I took office in 2019, we found that NCHOP had hundreds of applicants waiting patiently on the NCHOP list. This now includes 750 who own their own land and 2,000 landless applicants. Although NCHOP has a mechanism to put housing payments back into the program, NCHOP lacks a stable budget to meet the high demand.

Deputy Chief Warner, the Council of the Cherokee Nation and I struck a blow for progress on the housing crisis with the Housing, Jobs, and Sustainable Communities Act. In 2019, the law provided $30 million, mostly for the housing rehabilitation program. In 2022, we directed $120 million to housing and community building programs, including $60 million to boost the NCHOP program. HJSCA has resulted in 363 new homes, with more on the way. It expires next year.

It is time we acknowledge that our efforts, so far, have not been enough. Our new housing study reveals more than a $1.75 billion housing deficit for Cherokee citizens on the reservation over the next decade. That is a product of the twin problems: the national housing crisis and the huge demand for NCHOP.

But let’s not look at all of this as a problem. Let’s look at this as an opportunity.

We have an opportunity to lead on solving the housing crisis. Cherokee Nation did not cause this crisis. The United States has a duty to solve this crisis, but always falls short when it comes to meeting its housing obligations to Indian Country. Cherokee Nation has never been a nation that waits for others to come to the rescue. So, with an opportunity to meet housing needs in front of us and resources at our disposal, we must lead.

Deputy Chief Warner and I recently sent legislation to the Council to permanently authorize HJSCA. Our proposal puts Cherokee Nation on a path to commit $40 million every three years into perpetuity, mostly from our business profits, with 85% for housing and 15% for community buildings. The new HJSCA calls on us to develop three-year housing plans for each funding cycle, with the ability to adjust the plan as we go. Council would retain the power to adjust funding downward if we experience an unexpected downturn in our business profits through its appropriations power.

The law is not without its own tradeoffs. Every additional dollar we tap from our business profits is a dollar we do not spend on expanding our businesses or meeting other priorities. But it is difficult to imagine a better investment than improving housing conditions for our people and our communities.

The alternative to our new HJSCA is a return to waiting on federal Indian housing funds, through a law called NAHASDA, to come to the rescue. Congress and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has made progress recently but has always fallen short. The alternative is also to leave the NCHOP program, and patiently waiting applicants, to languish. The alternative is to simply stand still.

If we stand still on housing, we will fall behind. No matter the issue, but especially on housing, we are not a people who were meant to fall behind. The new HJSCA says that we will move forward and lead boldly on the great cause of housing.

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