Rosen pushes to revitalize tribal housing funding program 

Nevada Democrat U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen urged her colleagues to increase funding for tribal housing in a letter sent to the Senate Committee on Appropriations Thursday afternoon. 

Native Americans in tribal areas have some of the worst housing needs in the nation, facing higher poverty rates, overcrowded housing, lack of plumbing and heat, high development costs, and limited infrastructure for sewer, gas, and energy, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. 

Rosen specifically is calling for the reauthorization of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), which is intended to address these unique needs by funding the Indian Housing Block Grant program, the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program, and the Title VI Loan Guarantee program.

Despite the bill acting as the primary federal statute to address housing in tribal communities, it has not been reauthorized since 2013, and program funding has been largely stuck at funding levels set then.

“Congress has not reauthorized this important law for over a decade, and appropriators have funded its programs at largely stagnant levels, without even accounting for historically high inflation. This insufficient federal housing assistance has exacerbated the housing crisis facing Tribes in Nevada,” Rosen said in the letter to U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D–HI), the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R–MS), ranking member of the same committee. 

While the U.S. Senate passed the reauthorization of the NAHASDA through an amendment attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 in July 2023, no action has been taken since. 

Nevada is home to 28 Tribes, bands, councils, and colonies, many of which received grants through the Indian Housing Block Grant program to build affordable housing. 

The reauthorization of NAHASDA is only one piece of the puzzle. She’s also calling for the Indian Housing Block Grant to be adjusted for inflation. The program’s stagnant funding furthers systemic inequities, according to NLIHC.  

“Despite the dire need for affordable housing resources, made worse by rising housing costs and historically high mortgage interest rates, Congress has consistently underfunded critical programs that support affordable housing development, operation, and maintenance in Indian Country,” Rosen wrote in the letter.