Homeownership Award Presented to Squaxin Island Tribe

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The Squaxin Island Tribe, a small tribe located near Shelton, WA, received honors from the HUD Northwest Office of Native American Programs (NwONAP) for being the first tribe in the Pacific Northwest to successfully obtain a guaranteed loan under the Title VI Loan Guarantee Program.

This was the first Homeownership Award bestowed by the NwONAP to a tribe. Brian Thompson, Director of Planning, and Penni Giles, Tribal Housing Director, accepted the "Partners In Homeownership" certificate on behalf of the Squaxin Island Tribe. Max Rice, Native American Program Specialist, NwONAP, made the presentation on behalf of John Meyers, HUD Regional Director, Region X, and Ken Bowring, Administrator, NwONAP.

The Title VI loan will be used in conjunction with other tribally operated housing programs to provide 18 single-family homes and three duplex units on their 500-acre reservation. Of the 740 enrolled tribal members, 51 families have been identified as living in overcrowded conditions. The housing units that this loan will facilitate will help to alleviate the overcrowding and provide homeownership opportunities for tribal families under the Section 184 Indian Loan Guarantee Program.

Last summer the tribe completed and occupied the first 18 single-family units in their Slocum Ridge development. The Title VI loan will allow them to complete the second phase of the development.

When Slocum Ridge is completed--within two years--it will be a neighborhood of 36 rental and homeownership units on a 40-acre site acquired in 1998. The Tribe is utilizing HUD/ONAP funds, as well as non-HUD federal, state, and private resources to address their recognized housing shortage and to provide the infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, and a playground) necessary to complete the development.

The Title VI Loan Guarantee Program was enacted, as part of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act, to allow tribes to "borrow" on future HUD grants under the formula-driven Indian Housing Block Grant Program (IHBG). The loans, which are guaranteed by HUD and collateralized with future Indian Housing Block Grant funds, allow tribes to build much needed housing units today instead of adding small numbers of housing every year or waiting for several years to build a development.

Indian Loan Guarantee Program (Section 184): HUD is committed to increasing homeownership opportunities for Alaskan Natives and Indian American communities. The 184 Indian Loan Guarantee Program was developed to overcome the obstacles to mortgaging land held in trust and to promote the interests of the borrower, the Tribe and the lender. The program, implemented in 1994, provides homeownership opportunities to Native Americans wanting to own a home on tribal or individual trust land.