Three Alaska tribal housing groups win $15.7 million in federal grants for 58 homes

Three Alaska tribal housing groups will share about $15.7 million from the federal government's latest round of competitive tribal housing grants, enough to build or fix up 58 homes in Haines, Galena and Anchorage.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $150 million in Indian Housing Block Grant competitive awards to 31 tribes and tribal housing entities on Sept. 3, at the close of its National Tribal Housing Summit. According to HUD's award list, Cook Inlet Housing Authority in Anchorage won $6 million for 44 units, the Chilkoot Indian Association in Haines won $5 million for eight units and the Louden Tribe of Galena Village, on the Yukon River, won about $4.74 million for six units.

Alaska's total is second only to California's, which won about $17.5 million across four awards. Alaska's 58 units are the most of any state in the round.

The Indian Housing Block Grant is the federal government's main source of housing money for tribes. Most of it is handed out by formula for construction, repairs and housing services. Since 2018, Congress has also set aside money that tribes and their housing entities compete for, which HUD says is meant to expand affordable housing for low-income tribal families. HUD counts 593 tribes and housing entities as eligible to apply. Thirty-one won this round.

In Alaska, much of that housing money flows through regional housing authorities that tribes designate to run their programs. Cook Inlet Housing Authority is one of them. Chilkoot and Louden applied as tribes on their own.

Griffin Forster, executive director of the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities, said at an Aug. 28 Commonwealth North panel that the block grant "allows individual tribes to determine their own approaches to meeting need." He said that can mean new rentals, help for homebuyers, repairs, weatherization or housing for elders.

Cook Inlet Housing Authority also took home one of HUD's first Secretary's Awards for Excellence in Tribal Communities at the summit. HUD recognized the authority for a $51 million project that turned a blighted area of Anchorage into nearly 150 affordable rental homes, built with HUD money and tax credits.

HUD is also trying to learn how well the competition works. In a May 27 Federal Register notice, it proposed surveying all 593 eligible tribes and housing entities about why they do or don't apply, how competitive projects differ from formula-funded ones and what gets in the way of building housing. It also plans interviews with up to 30 tribal staff and contractors. The survey can begin once the White House budget office approves it.