Research Reports
Reflections on Traditional American Indian Ways, 1998
Threats to Tribal Sovereignty, 1998
Traditional American Indian Leadership: A Comparison with U.S. Governance, 1997
Section Five: Policy Discussions Regarding Housing & Home Ownership
In several of the focus group discussions, policy issues were raised. People debated about the merits of one effort over another; at other times, a brainstorming session occurred about what could be done to improve the housing situation for American Indians in the Twin City metropolitan area. The excerpts noted below offer a flavor for these discussions.
One roundtable participant offered that the term multicultural doesn't strike with much reality; the melting pot theory doesn't make much sense to Indians, and assimilation was a gross failure with Indians. In addition, the public practice of one's culture may need some concentration to feel safe and comfortable.
"I'm getting at something Christopher Alexander put into his work by talking about the nature of the public practice of one's culture. Look at the concept of multiculturalism. For whites, it would mean that the first house is Hmong, the second house is Black, the third Latino, and so on. Then block after block after block it would be that way and it would be great. But this concept flies in the face of coming together. Anishinabe. You need enough people to have a big drum ceremony. In order to make it work, people have to be comfortable. How can you be sure that those around you are American Indians and you can have sense of community?"
As a follow-up to the previous point about concentration, another participant asked, "If we cluster people with similar problems, how does that help them with their problems? Should we build home ownership into those clusters?"
"What we worry about with Little Earth is clustering people with same economic difficulties. Where is the leadership? How can we build in some home ownership and rentals in the same place? It would be more economically varied but culturally American Indian."
Several participants echoed comments about spending scarce resources. The debate about how the government should spend its housing dollars was brought to the table in one of the focus groups.
"Should we be subsidizing homes to keep people in the community? This would be largely targeted to middle income people [who may choose to buy in the suburbs]. Those efforts can also be done for those with lower incomes as well. There are people who want to live in the inner city. We need to think about where we invest those dollars. We need to continue to subsidize low income households."
"We need to build partnerships between builders, architects, developers, and funding folks. We need to examine the programs and resources we don't regularly tap into (e.g. Family Housing Fund). We need to build partnerships."
"Sometimes we forget as Indian people how fortunate we are to be here in Minnesota. There exists a large amount of money for housing programs when compared to other states. This makes a world of difference, and has to do with responsiveness to state legislature. In other places, it's only federal money that goes to Indian communities. The leadership that got the program passed is important."
Another participant offered the Habitat for Humanity model as a possible model for the Indian community.
"This could be one of the tools for involvement. There is a mortgage on the house but no interest. There is donated labor and donated materials. I think it would be interesting to have the Indian community work together to provide that home for an Indian family. This could be a house specially designed for multi-family or an extended family."
As a final thought, one participant asked the following series of questions of the group:
"What do we need to know? We need to proceed on that basis of discovery about our own situation in this area. So many things are framed in the material world and many times at expense of what we feel."
Summary
In many ways, the previous comment captures the essence of the project. The role of the American Indian Research and Policy Institute (AIRPI) is to create a space for the American Indian community to come together to ask each other what they need or want to know about the past and current experiences of others in order to better form responses to situations in the future. Instead of recommending any specific policies, the Institute facilitates discussions and provides a forum for the American Indian community to develop ideas.
Until politicians and policy makers in our society become more informed and educated about historical and contemporary Indian issues, the chance of continued misunderstanding and mishandling of Indian issues remains substantial.
We encourage community members to utilize the information provided in this report as they see fit. We hope this report can provide insights to the American Indian experience for the broader non-Indian community that is developing policies and programs which relate to housing and home ownership activities.
Addendum
Housing Programs
Minneapolis Urban Indian Housing Program
In the 1970's, the city of Minneapolis sponsored an Urban Indian Housing
Program to address the problem of substandard housing for American Indians.
The intent of the program was to rehabilitate or build new housing that
Indian families would rent for up to three years. These families would
become eligible to buy the homes during this period.
A member of the Advisory Board for the program talked with us about the program. They believed that the staff were naive about the need for hand-holding with the Indian families as they attempted to secure their housing and build toward home ownership. For example, maintenance of the properties was one of the greatest challenges for the soon to be home owners. Looking back, a suggestion they offered was to conduct workshops for the families entering the program.
Minnesota Housing Finance Agency: Tribal Indian Housing Program and
Urban Indian Housing Program
The MHFA provides administrative assistance and coordination to these
two programs primarily aimed at providing mortgage assistance to low and
moderate income American Indian households on the eleven reservations,
and rural and urban areas. Since the inception of the Tribal Indian Housing
Program in 1976, approximately $38 million has been directed toward mortgage
financing of new construction or rehabilitation of existing housing, loans
for home purchase, and some rental assistance. The interest rates on loans
vary between 4 percent and 8 percent.
The Urban Indian Housing Program was enacted in 1978 by the Minnesota State Legislature and to date, over $5 million has been provided as mortgage assistance to American Indian families and individuals. This money has also leveraged additional resources from local communities including Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, and communities within the seven county metropolitan area. In 1993, the city of Bemidji was added under the definition of urban areas for this program. During 1993, 35 American Indian households were provided assistance between the two programs. The households possessed an average annual income of roughly $25,000. (Information provided by MHFA document on Minnesota Indian Housing Programs.)
A key component to the Urban Indian Housing program has been developed in recent years which is a home ownership counseling workshop for prospective buyers. The workshops provide critical information to prospective buyers so that they can make an informed choice about whether or not they want to purchase a house and what home ownership actually entails. One component of the program is to talk about the cultural aspects to home ownership and how home ownership can fit with the values community members possess. For example, a house that is owned can be shared among a family, cared for by the current owner(s), and passed on the next generation within the family.
Federal Housing Programs
Many of the federal housing programs serving American Indians are directed
toward reservations. Please note the "Building the Future: A Blueprint
for Change" listed in the bibliography for a comprehensive overview of
past and current federal housing policies and programs for American Indians.
Bibliography
- "Building the Future: A Blueprint for Change" Final Report of the National Commission on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing. Washington D.C., 1992.
- "Minneapolis Population and Racial Change, 1950 - 1990," City of Minneapolis Planning Department, (Spring, 1991).
- "Minnesota Minority Populations," U.S. Census data prepared by Minnesota Planning, Office of State Demographer (September, 1994).
- Myers, Samuel L. Jr., et al. "Discrimination in Mortgage Lending in the Upper Midwest," Prepared for the Fannie Mae housing colloquium at the University of Minnesota, December, 1993.
- "Population Notes," Minnesota State Planning Agency, Office of State Demographer (November, 1983).
- Sorkin, Alan L. The Urban American Indian. (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books), 1978.
- "State of the City Report," City of Minneapolis Planning Department, 1993.
- Steiner, Stan. "Cement Prairies" in Three Perspectives on Ethnicity: Blacks, Chicanos, and Native Americans. Carlos E. Cortez et al. (eds) (New York: Capricorn Books), 1976.
- Tax, Sol. "The Impact of Urbanization on American Indians," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 436 (March, 1978), pp 121-136.
- Thorton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press), 1987.
- Woods, Richard G. and Arthur M. Harkins. "A Review of Recent Research on Minneapolis Indians, 1968-1969," Training Center for Community Programs in coordination with the Office of Community Programs. Center for Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota (December, 1969).
- Yinger, J. Milton and George Eaton Simpson. "The Integration of Americans of Indian Decent," The Annals of the American Academy. Vol. 436 (March, 1978), pp 137-151.
The
Well-Being of American Indian Children in Minnesota: Economic Conditions,
1994
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