Federal grant offers Native homeowners in Anchorage and Mat-Su a savings match and repair money

Native homeowner families in Anchorage and the Mat-Su who save $2,000 over a year could earn an $8,000 match and up to $10,000 in home repairs under a federal grant awarded to Cook Inlet Lending Center.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded the Anchorage lender $899,354 through its Administration for Children and Families for the program, called Home Through the Seasons. It runs from Sept. 30, 2026, through Sept. 29, 2029.

The program aims to enroll 78 households in three cohorts of 26. A household qualifies if it owns a home in Anchorage or the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and has at least one Alaska Native, American Indian or Native Hawaiian member, or if its home is in a Native community as defined by the U.S. Treasury's community development lending program.

Each household saves $2,000 through 12 monthly deposits and attends four seasonal home maintenance classes, three hours apiece, at the Nave, according to the award record. Households that finish both earn the match. The repair money covers health and safety work, paid directly to contractors or reimbursed against receipts.

The award record expects at least 47 households to finish, which would mean between $470,000 and $780,000 in furnace, roof, alarm, weatherization, plumbing, electrical and other repairs.

Cook Inlet Lending Center specializes in HUD Section 184 home loans, mortgages for Alaska Native and American Indian borrowers backed by a federal guarantee, according to its website. A Municipality of Anchorage housing presentation estimated that about 4,700 homes in Anchorage and 1,000 in the Mat-Su need rehabilitation.

The award record doesn't say when the first cohort opens or how families apply, and the lender's website doesn't yet list the program. Cook Inlet Lending Center takes general inquiries at (907) 793-3058 or [email protected].