ABOUT
The Housing Authority manages 119 NAHASDA and 1937 Act rental and homebuyer units. A maintenance staff of 9 conducts inspections and does the general maintenance and repair of the units, as well as assist non-Housing Authority homeowners with minor repairs when possible. An office staff of six support tenant compliance, reporting, file management, billing and collections. Contracting services are procured in specialty areas such as architectural, engineering, and major electrical work. In 2020, the housing strategy continued to focus on maintaining its current rental and homebuyer stock in good physical condition by addressing the maintenance, rehabilitation and counseling needs of its renters and homebuyers. The Housing Authority assisted with over 400 work orders and repairs, provided counseling services, which includes finance and budgeting classes, pest control services, pet spay and neutering and completed a much needed office and warehouse remodel. The Housing Authority made available to the Wellness program a Family Wellness Center, and men's and women's recovery homes. We also provided Tribal member homeowners with homeowner insurance coverage and facilitated insurance claims and repairs. The Housing Authority strives to work with the Tribal members and tenants' needs in every circumstance and we look forward to expanding our services in the future.
The Housing Authority was recently awarded two grants. One was awarded from HUD for $1,375,000 and the other was a Federal Home Loan Bank Grant for $400,000. With these funds, combined with Housing funds, we are planning on building 8 two bedroom /2 bath homes on four lots on Squi-qui Lane. These home will be much like our newer 2 bedroom units that in the same area. The Housing Authority has already begun the planning, architecture and engineering on the homes. Bid packets for the entire project should go out in late March and we plan to break ground in May 2020. Additionally, we plan on painting the exterior of many of our units this spring and summer, starting on Keeah Lane. Each year, homeowners ask the Housing Authority to assist with home repairs or appliance replacement. Although we do what we can with our limited unrestricted funds, we should be doing more. Therefore, we are planning a limited homeowner repair program beginning our next fiscal year, which begins October 1. The program will still be based on federal income requirements. Lastly, we have been talking to our bank, Washington Federal, and we are looking at options for implementing an online mobile payment system for rent. We hope that an online payment system will be a convenience for the tenants, as well as help tenants avoid late fees. We will know more about implementation later this month.