Bipartisan effort underway to update Native American Housing Act

 By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

An effort to streamline the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, being led by Oregon Rep. Janelle Bynum, along with Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT) and Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), is underway.

“(It’s) long overdue,” Tribal Communications Director Sara Thompson said. “By updating the framework, the act would allow Tribes greater financial flexibility, streamlined compliance processes, expanded homeownership opportunities and improved autonomy, all of which will benefit Indian Country for years to come.”

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the act, generally referred to by its acronym, NAHASDA, “reorganized the system of housing assistance provided to Native Americans through the Department of Housing and Urban Development by eliminating several separate programs of assistance and replacing them with a block grant program.”

Under the act, there are two programs authorized: The Indian Housing Block Grant, a formula-based grant program, and the Title VI Loan Guarantee, which “provides financing guarantees to Indian tribes for private market loans to develop affordable housing.”

NAHASDA was enacted in 1996 and expired in 2013. Now Bynum and her fellow congressional members are introducing bills to update it. They noted in a press release that the Act “has served as a cornerstone of federal housing policy in Indian Country. The law consolidated multiple federal housing programs into a streamlined block grant system, including the Indian Housing Block Grant and the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant, enabling Tribal Nations to design and implement housing solutions that meet their unique needs. NAHASDA was last authorized in 2008 and expired in 2013.”

In 2025, the National American Indian Housing Council released a video advocating for the reauthorization of the act after visiting Tribes across the country, including Grand Ronde’s Tribal Housing and Elder Housing.

The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde established the Grand Ronde Housing Department on March 27, 1996. The Tribe’s allocation in Indian Housing Block Grants for 2025 was $6.2 million.

According to the National American Indian Housing Council, the failure to update NAHASDA has left Tribal nations “bound by outdated requirements even as housing needs grow more severe.”

The funds can be used for construction of new housing, operation, improving housing and providing housing services.

The proposed bills offer an extensive list of additions to the act. These include allowing for a pilot program to offer grants and forgivable loans for home repairs and mitigation of health hazards, simplifying reviews, a grant program to help communities establish pre-approved  housing designs, a pilot program to convert vacant/abandoned buildings into housing, helping families save for housing and authorizing disaster recovery grants.

“For too long, Tribal communities have not had the tools they need to build and maintain affordable housing,” Rep. Bynum said. “They deserve access to resources that provide long-term stability and expand pathways to homeownership, which is exactly what my bill does.”