HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has the  following content available in the form of free downloads from the HUD/PD&R website www.HUDUser.gov and the Sustainable Construction in Indian Country portal site.

Fond du Lac Veterans Supportive Housing Case Study in Sustainability (Published Oct. 2015)

Fond du Lac Veterans Supportive Housing, which opened in 2013, is the most recent housing development for families and single people of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa (FDL) designed to support homeless tribal members — in this case veterans — while also advancing the FDL’s commitment to the environment. Participation in a survey process that included reservation lands led FDL to identify several new areas of unmet need among homeless tribal members. The band created reservation-wide and department-specific housing and supportive services plans which successfully developed first the Supportive Housing Development and, later, the veterans’ housing development.

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Evidence Matters: Spring 2015 (Published Spring 2015)

The Spring 2015 issue of Evidence Matters: Transforming Knowledge Into Housing and Community Development Policy, highlights housing issues in Indian Country with a focus on self-determination. This issue discusses unique and complex challenges tribes face as they address housing needs in their communities, and how federal policies support tribes in developing and implementing local and culturally sensitive solutions. Additionally, this issue of Evidence Mattersexamines the development and implementation of federal policies that empower tribal self-determination, considers initiatives to improve data on Native American populations, and explores how unique barriers to homeownership in Indian Country are addressed at local levels.  Print copies of Evidence Mattersare available by calling 1-800-245-2691, Option 1.

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Expanding Affordability With Modular Multifamily Infill Housing (Published October 2014)

Kah San Chako Haws (East House in Chinook) is the first multistory, multifamily modular building in Portland, OR. The three-building development houses nine low-income families in studio, one-, and two-bedroom units. In an increasingly expensive housing market, the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) developed this prototype to demonstrate the cost and time savings that could be achieved in affordable housing while providing a unit superior to and greener than most conventional, affordable housing.

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National Needs Assessment of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Needs Interim Report (Published January 2014)

This interim report, Continuity and Change: Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Housing Conditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives, is part of the National Assessment of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing Needs, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The project’s overarching purpose is to document the housing needs and conditions of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIANs) and Native Hawaiians. As a component of this broader project, this specific report examines trends in the circumstances (social, economic, and housing) of the AIAN population using secondary sources, predominantly the products of the U.S. Census Bureau. The final report of this study will merge field research data with the findings presented here. Though this report only offers a partial picture, it contains new information about how Native Americans are faring in the Nation today. The housing needs and conditions of Native Hawaiians will be described in a separate report.

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VIDEOS: Sustainable Native American Housing Projects (Produced July 2013)

The intersection of housing and culture is brought into clear focus in this series of four engaging videos that highlight sustainable housing projects in four Native American communities, each telling the unique story of sustainable design and construction practices being adapted and applied to meet the housing needs of 21^stcentury tribal life, while maintaining reverence and respect for native traditions. While the projects are highly engaging and worthwhile, the focus here is on the vision and commitment of those involved.

The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribal (PGST) Housing Authority designed and built the Teekalet Village at a key location adjacent to historic salmon fishing grounds on the Puget Sound. The carefully designed site protects a salmon spawning creek, a tribal hatchery, and the historic waterfront at Point Julia.

The Puyallup Nation’s Place of the Hidden Waters, located on traditional Puyallup tribal lands on a hill overlooking the Puget Sound tidal flats, offers a culturally and environmentally responsive new housing model for the Puyallup Tribe in the Pacific Northwest. The design, which achieved LEED for Homes Platinum certification, emulates the rectangular, shed-roofed form of a traditional Coast Salish longhouse, using a variation of the modern townhouse courtyard building.

The Penobscot Indian Nation Housing Authority (PINHA) built 12 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rated single‐family homes. The Penobscot LEED Homeshas helped bring young, low‐income families back to the community, reuniting them with a strong cultural and traditional heritage embodied by a nature path, native plants, a forest, a boardwalk to the village, sweat lodges, and ceremonial multiuse space.

The Crow Nation’s  Apsaalooke Nation Housing Authority's Awe’‐Itche Ashe, Good Earth Lodgesproject is the culmination of a research and development project funded by the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development, with three primary objectives: to determine whether the raw materials needed for compressed earth blocks could be found on the Crow Indian Reservation, if the blocks could withstand Montana's extreme climate, and if a tribal workforce could be assembled to carry out the program. With technical assistance from the University of Colorado Boulders' MCEDC, the project is succeeding in proving these assertions.

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Best Practices in Tribal Housing: Case Studies 2013 (Published 2013)

These case studies are foundational to our multiyear effort to research and share the exciting work that tribes are undertaking across the country. The 17 projects featured are not intended to represent all of the green building occurring across Indian Country, but rather to exemplify an emerging transformation in tribal housing. Once again, tribal housing projects are increasingly connected to heritage, culture, and nature.

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Final Report Sustainable Construction in Indian Country Initiative (Published May 2013)

The Sustainable Construction in Indian Country (SCinIC) initiative was a Congressionally mandated effort of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research, in partnership with the HUD Office of Native American Programs (ONAP). The initiative promoted and supported sustainable construction practices in Native American communities through a range of resource development efforts and technical assistance activities.

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Energy Efficiency Evaluation and Recommendations: 14380 S. Farm Road Multifamily Housing (Published November 2012)

The Cocopah Indian Tribe, in southwestern Arizona, is committed to providing its members with safe, affordable, healthy, and energy efficient housing. This vision should encourage members living on the Reservation to remain and encourage members now living off Reservation to return. As part of this vision, the Cocopah Indian Housing and Development (CIHAD) decided to explore various options to retrofit an existing 2-story 8-unit garden apartment building with more energy efficient, sustainable features.

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Energy Evaluation and Recommendations: Elder Housing Sunrise Acres (Published November 2012)

St. Regis Tribal and housing authority leadership believes that an energy efficient, healthy home is the foundation of society and that a quality home provides a pathway to achieving an enriched lifestyle. Sunrise Acres Phase Two illustrates the Tribe and the housing authority’s leadership role in the successful design and development of a sustainable neighborhood. Sunrise Acres Phase 1 illustrates the Tribe’s commitment to transform an existing neighborhood into a green, sustainable community.

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Energy Evaluation and Recommendations: Kekyajek Odanek Elder Housing (Published August 2012)

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in Michigan constructed 20 single-family elder units in 2005 as part of an ongoing community master plan for Pokegnek Edawat Dowagiac. Key sustainable elements of this phase of the master plan included: dense deep-rooted vegetation, permeable pavement, clustering and placement of houses to preserve topography and existing vegetation, rain gardens, bioswales, and ENERGY STAR^®appliances. Each of the one-story, single-family homes has three bedrooms, a two-car attached garage, and a screened-in porch. Three different floor plans were used for the 20 houses ranging in size from 1,962 to 2,593 square feet.

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Report on Tribal Leader Consultation on HUD’s Housing Needs Assessment (Published July 2012)

Beginning on March 5, 2012 and culminating on July 9, 2012, HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) conducted a series of eight consultations between HUD officials and Native American and Alaskan Native tribal leaders focusing on the HUD study, "Assessment of Native American, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing Needs" (Housing Needs Study). HUD conducted the consultations at the request of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC), and tribal leaders. The consultations built upon the outreach sessions held jointly by the Office of Native American Programs (ONAP) and the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) between December 2010 and March 2011. During each consultation, tribal leaders had an opportunity to comment on the scope and design of the pending study.

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One-Stop Mortgage Center Initiative in Indian Country: A Report to the President (Published October 2000)

For many years, American Indian and Alaska Native communities have encountered barriers to financing homeownership in Indian Country. Residents of Indian reservations seeking to acquire home loans are required to obtain numerous approvals and deal with distant providers. Those entities have been operating with little coordination. Lenders have had to learn to work with changing land status issues and various tribal governments. This combined with the following items present serious challenges: higher transaction costs; higher pre-development land costs for infrastructure development; lack of mortgage information; lack of existing housing; lack of homebuyer and financial-skills education; and lack of savings. To address these problems, President Clinton issued an Executive Memorandum on August 6, 1998 directing the Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury to work together with local tribal governments and other federal agencies to streamline the mortgage lending process on Indian reservations.

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Assessment of American Indian Housing Needs and Programs: Final Report (Published 1996)

A groundbreaking 1996 HUD study documents the severe housing needs of the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population and calls for an increase in public and private investment to alleviate these conditions. Assessment of American Indian Housing Needs and Programs: Final Report is the comprehensive examination of the housing needs finds that the AIAN population faces more frequent -- and often more severe -- housing problems than the non-Indian population. The housing needs and underlying socioeconomic conditions of the more than 2 million Native Americans vary greatly across the States, cities, and the 508 federally recognized Tribal Areas where American Indians and Alaska Natives live. Published May 1996 by the Urban Institute.

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Feasibility of Expanded Use of Section 8 Vouchers by Indian Housing Authorities (Published March 1992)

This study responds to a Congressional mandate, under Section 561 of the 1990 National Affordable Housing Act, to examine the feasibility of greater use of Section 8 vouchers and certificates by Indian Housing Authorities (IHAs). The study relies on decennial census information, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) data, discussions with HUD Central and Field Office staff, and on consultations with IHA officials and national experts. The analysis provides an exploratory examination of the heterogeneous housing needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives, the current level of voucher use by IHAs, and of various barriers limiting the use of Section 8 vouchers by IHAs.