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Navajo Nation Put On Notice For Not Spending Enough On Housing

By Tristan Ahtone / Poverty and Public Health Reporter
Published May 30, 2013 at 7:38 PM PDT
This story was published more than 11 years ago.
Navajo Nation Put On Notice For Not Spending Enough On Housing
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the Navajo Nation has failed to spend nearly $150 million in housing grant money for fiscal year 2012.

HUD Letter of Warning
HUD Letter of Warning
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the Navajo Nation has failed to spend nearly $150 million in housing grant money for fiscal year 2012. Since 2000, the Navajo Nation have almost consistently failed to spend HUD grant money.

In a letter of warning to the Navajo Housing Authority, HUD gave notice that the tribe was in violation of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act.

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The violation? Failure to spend grant money awarded to Navajo Housing for crime prevention and safety, tenant-based rental assistance, and rehabilitation of old units to name a few.

The total grant for those programs in 2012: about $215 million. The money actually spent on those programs over that period: about $66 million.

Since 2000, HUD estimates that the Navajo Housing Authority has been sitting on nearly $434 million in unspent housing funds.

Repeated calls to the Navajo Nation for comment on the unspent funds were not returned.

Tristan Ahtone
Tristan Ahtone is a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. He’s also German and English and a few other dashes of European (just to make things more interesting). Before becoming a reporter, Tristan held a number of exciting jobs, such as door-to-door salesman, delivery driver, telemarketer, secretary, janitor, busboy, and office clerk to name a few. In 2006, Tristan graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts with a bachelors degree in Creative Writing. In 2008, he received a masters degree in broadcast journalism from the Columbia School of Journalism. Since 2008, Tristan has specialized in covering Native American, environmental and healthcare issues, and has worked with The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, National Native News, Frontline, Indian Country Today, Sirius Satellite Radio and NPR. Before moving to the southwest, Tristan worked as Morning Edition Host and Reporter for Wyoming Public Radio. He currently serves as KUNM's Poverty and Public Health Reporter.
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