Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2008

Floor Speech

NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - September 27, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KILDEE. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2786 as amended by the Senate, a bill to reauthorize the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act called ``NAHASDA.'' I'm happy to be the chief sponsor of this very important legislation.

NAHASDA, enacted in 1996, was the first piece of comprehensive housing legislation directed solely to Native American and Alaska Native people. It has become the basic program aiding Native Americans in tribal areas with affordable housing development including home ownership, rehabilitation, infrastructure development and other affordable housing assistance. The success of NAHASDA is clear.

Since its enactment, thousands of housing units have been constructed or are in development. Despite this record, however, there is still a substantial unmet need for housing units, a need that continues to grow for one of the fastest growing population groups in the country.

More than 90,000 Indian families are homeless. Nearly 12 percent of families living on Indian reservations lack plumbing, and 14 percent lack electricity. Twelve percent of these families live without safe and reliable water supply.

This bill, which is based largely upon the recommendations made by the Native American Indian Housing Council, has bipartisan support. I want to thank my colleagues, Chairman BARNEY FRANK, Congresswoman MAXINE WATERS and Congressman MEL WATT, as well as my Republican colleagues for their support on this legislation. I also want to thank Senator Dorgan, Senator Murkowski, Senator Dodd, and Senator Shelby for all their hard work on this legislation.

Its primary objective is to improve housing conditions in Indian country. Building upon the basic framework of NAHASDA, the bill will give tribes greater flexibility in meeting the housing needs of their tribal citizens. To that end, the bill creates a self-determination program which authorizes tribes to set aside a portion of their annual NAHASDA grant funding to better address their construction, acquisition, rehabilitation and infrastructure needs.

A year before the next NAHASDA authorization, in 2013, HUD would report to Congress the result of this new program. Among other revisions, this bill will make certain that tribes can compete for HOME Investment Partnerships Act funds, removes competitive procurement rules and procedures for purchases and goods under $5,000, makes Federal supply sources through the GSA more accessible to tribes, recognizes tribal preference laws in hiring and contracting, allows tribes to carry over NAHASDA funds to a subsequent grant year, and permits tribes to establish a reserve account of the tribe's annual NAHASDA grant.

Mr. Speaker, this reauthorization bill will build upon the success of NAHASDA by providing more housing development on our Nation's Indian reservations.

I would like to thank the staff, the Republican and Democratic staff members who have worked so hard on this; in the House, Kimberly Teehee, Dom McCoy, Cassandra Duhaney, Hilary West, Jeff Riley, Cindy Chetti, Tallman Johnson, Aaron Sporck and Jonathan Harwitz; over in the Senate, Allison Binney, Heidi Frechette, Jenn Fogel-Bublick, Mark Calabria, David Mullon and Jim Hall.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source