Coalition Celebrates Upward Trend in Native American Homeownership During National Homeownership Month
In recognition of June as National Homeownership Month, the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition hosted a virtual celebration where nearly 40 stakeholders from national, state, and tribal levels gathered to share their successes in creating homeownership opportunities for Native American families. The Coalition is also supporting several member organizations as they host local homeownership celebrations throughout the state by providing small housewarming gifts for approximately 100 Native American homeowners.
During the virtual celebration, the Coalition announced they have hired Elias Mendoza (Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe) as the Program Director. This is a major step in the Coalition’s journey to become an independent nonprofit organization. As the Coalition’s first full-time staff person, Mendoza will guide the organizational development process and interface with the Coalition’s working committees.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition and look forward to working with other passionate people across the state to create a clear path to homeownership for our Native families,” says Mendoza.
Also during the event, the Coalition revealed new data showing tremendous growth in Native American homeownership in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2019 to 2020, Coalition member organizations reported a 126% increase in home loan volume as well as an 80% increase in the number of new homeowners. Nearly all loans closed (94%) were on Indian reservations. There was also an upward trend in funding support for Native organizations from the South Dakota Housing Development Authority’s Homeownership Education Resource Organization (HERO) program. A copy of the full data report can be viewed here.
“The growth in Native American homeownership demonstrates just how hard our partners and practitioners are working in Native communities. We have accomplishments on so many levels to celebrate,” says Tawney Brunsch, Executive Director of Lakota Funds, which serves as the fiscal agent for the Coalition.
Several recent developments are creating a favorable outlook on the policy horizon for Native American homeownership, which will support further growth in this sector. The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing held their first hearing of the year on “Housing for Native Americans: Review of Federal Programs, Barriers, and Opportunities” where Eric Shepherd, Executive Director of Sisseton Wahpeton Housing Authority, and also Coalition member, testified. This was the first time the Senate Housing Subcommittee held a hearing on Indian housing issues in over a decade! In addition, the hearing illuminated the strong, bi-partisanship collaboration between Chairman Tina Smith (D-MN) and Ranking Minority Member Mike Rounds (R-SD). Furthermore, the Coalition is participating in the South Dakota Legislature’s 2021 Interim Study on Workforce Housing Needs to examine challenges and opportunities in housing for low- and moderate-income individuals and families throughout the state.
“It is great to see Native American representation in these policy discussions. We’re moving in the right direction to create an inclusive economy,” says Mendoza.
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) Hosts Listening Session on VA Native American Direct Home Loan Reform
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) and the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition held a listening session recently as part of the Senator’s efforts to reform the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Native American Direct Loan (NADL) program. In addition to participation from Senator Rounds, his staff, and Coalition members, the listening session featured testimonies about the NADL home loan process from several Native American veterans.
During the session, Senator Rounds told participants, “We need to fix the NADL program so it actually benefits our Native Americans in South Dakota.”
“Native veterans shouldn’t have to go to battle to get an NADL mortgage,” said Geri Opsal, Co-Chair of the Coalition’s Veteran’s Homeownership Committee and Tribal Veterans Service Officer for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. “They should have the same access to their VA benefit as any other veteran applying for a VA guarantee loan off the reservation.”
“We really appreciate Senators Rounds’ leadership on this issue,” said Tawney Brunsch, Executive Director of Lakota Funds. “During our discussions, you could tell he really understood how important it is for Native veterans to have ‘boots on the ground’ to help them through the mortgage lending process.”
With an average of only 20 NADL applications being approved nationwide each year, Senator Rounds has engaged the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee to explore solutions that would provide Native American veterans with meaningful access to the benefits they have earned. Those efforts included a request to the Government Accountability Office to conduct a thorough review of the NADL program, which will be a crucial step toward systemic change.
Video by Senator Thune Describes Great Success of 502 Relending Pilot
During the 2020 OFN Virtual Conference, Senator John Thune (SD-R) shared with conference attendees how the 502 Relending Pilot is creating homeownership opportunities in Indian Country.
Thank you Senator John Thune for championing the USDA 502 relending demonstration program with the Native CDFIs in South Dakota and for supporting the work of CDFIs nationwide. Watch the video below for a personal message from Senator Thune to Opportunity Finance Network virtual conference attendees!
Coalition Members Partner to Deploy COVID-19 Housing Relief Funds
Three Native American nonprofit organizations – Four Bands Community Fund, Lakota Funds, and Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial – have been designated as partners in the SD CARES Housing Assistance Program (SDCHAP) to provide up to $1,500 in rental, mortgage, or utility assistance to families that have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The South Dakota Housing Development Authority (SDHDA) was awarded $10 million by the State of South Dakota to launch and administer SDCHAP.
“Knowing that low-income and minority communities have been hardest hit by the pandemic, we are grateful that the South Dakota Housing Development Authority has actively engaged Native American organizations to ensure funds are directed where they are needed most,” says Tawney Brunsch, Executive Director of Lakota Funds.
SDHDA opened the online SDCHAP application on October 22, 2020 and will be accepting applications until December 18, 2020, or sooner if funds are expended. To provide assistance with families that don’t have reliable internet access and to help process applications, SDHDA has partnered with a total of 11 organizations, just under a third of which are located on Indian reservations.
“Since COVID hit, we have seen financial burdens manifest in different ways. We can really help a lot of people with this program and are glad to be a part of it,” says Colleen Steele, Executive Director of Mazaska.
The SDCHAP application can be found at sdcareshousingassistance.com. Four Bands is assisting applicants in Dewey, Ziebach, Wallworth, Corson, Hughes, Stanley, Buffalo, and Brule Counties. Lakota Funds is supporting applicants in Oglala Lakota, Jackson and Bennett Counties. Mazaska is covering Oglala Lakota, Jackson, Bennett, Fall River, Pennington, Meade, Lawrence, Todd, and Custer Counties.
All three Native organizations and SDHDA are members of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition and have been working collaboratively in various capacities over the past several years to increase homeownership opportunities for Native Americans throughout the state.
“All of the program partners are dedicated to making their communities a better place, and this is an opportunity to preserve progress on so many different levels. There is power in partnerships,” says Lakota Vogel, Executive Director of Four Bands.
Coalition Members Showcase Successful Native Veterans Homeownership Models
South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition members are continuing to advocate for policies that increase rates of Native American veteran homeownership. Lakota Funds and Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial, both Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) that serve the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, hosted a Reservation-wide tour for two staffers from U.S. Senator Mike Rounds’ (R-SD) office, Michael Bekaert, Director of In-State Military and Veterans Affairs, and George Cannizzaro, Veterans Affairs Fellow.
“We are so thankful to George and Mike for taking the time to visit with us and really get a true understanding for the environment we are working in, the challenges our Native veterans are facing when it comes to purchasing a home, and the success we’ve had with implementing new and innovative models to support our veterans in becoming homeowners,” says Tawney Brunsch, Executive Director of Lakota Funds and also a member of the Coalition’s Native Veterans Homeownership Committee.
The tour included meet and greets with Native veterans at their homes and highlighted various loan products they had utilized – including the Mazaska construction loan, the USDA 502, and the Veterans Affairs’ Native American Direct Loan (NADL) – challenges they encountered, and strategies implemented by service providers to support Native veterans as they pursue homeownership. One such strategy highlighted during the day’s luncheon was a newly developed guide to homeownership for Oglala Sioux veterans, created by Mazaska with funding from Enterprise Community Partners. The printed guide helps Native veterans on Pine Ridge navigate the homeownership process and includes several resources.
“Many of the veterans we work with are almost ready to give up because they’ve run into so many road blocks trying to buy a home. Some have been at it for years. What we have found is that relationships matter – not just with our local veterans but also with other lenders, the Tribe, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service, and our many community partners. We serve as a liaison between the veteran and these agencies and resources to keep the process moving,” says Steph Provost, Loan Officer at Mazaska.
The tour follows several months of collaboration between the Coalition and Rounds’ office in an effort to streamline the NADL program. Most recently, in June, Rounds, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), along with SVAC Chairman Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-MT), called on the Government Accountability Office to review the NADL program. The senators requested the evaluation of the NADL program out of concern that it is not effectively serving Native American veterans. This request is a critical step towards programmatic improvement through legislative or other means.
Senator Rounds will also host a listening session this Thursday, September 3, 2020, for him to personally discuss reform strategies with Native veteran homebuyers and the Coalition members that support them.
“Homeownership on tribal lands can be a complex process, but we are continuing to chip away at the barriers to ensure that our veterans are compensated for the sacrifices they have made. It is exciting to see progress and the level of congressional support we have,” says Brunsch.
South Dakota Congressional Delegation Urges USDA to Continue Home Loan Program on Tribal Land
Three members of the United States Congress – Senator John Thune (R-SD), Senator Michael Rounds (R-SD), and Representative Dusty Johnson (D-SD) – urged U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue to allocate additional funding to continue the 502 Relending Home Loan Program on tribal land in South Dakota.
Through this program, USDA Rural Development collaborated with two Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to increase access to Section 502 Direct Home Loans in Indian Country. The program was highly successful, deploying nearly $2 million in mortgage loans on two South Dakota Indian reservations in less than a year – about three times the amount deployed in the previous decade. The two Native CDFIs participating in the program – Four Bands Community Fund on the Cheyenne River Reservation and Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial on the Pine Ridge Reservation – estimate a growing pipeline of more than $3 million for Section 502 Direct Home Loans.
“As demand for homeownership strengthens amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuation of the pilot program would help more tribal families escape overcrowded housing situations and achieve their goals of homeownership,” said Sharon Vogel, executive director of the Cheyenne River Housing Authority and co-chair of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition’s policy committee.
“We really appreciate Senator Thune’s leadership and the ongoing support from our South Dakota congressional delegation,” added J.C. Crawford, Chief Executive Manager of CBJ Producers, LLC and co-chair of the Coalition’s policy committee. “They understand that through this partnership with USDA, Native CDFIs are in the best place to get affordable 502 mortgage capital into tribal communities. Lakota Vogel at Four Bands, Colleen Steele at Mazaska and their lending teams are doing great work on the frontlines assisting their clients to navigate the homeownership process on trust land.”
A copy of the letter from the South Dakota congressional delegation can be viewed here:
Senator Rounds Updates Coalition about Progress Toward Increasing Access to Mortgages for Native American Veterans
Today, Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) provided an update letter to the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition on his reformation efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Native American Direct Loan (NADL) program. Although the NADL program is intended to provide mortgage financing for Native American veterans living in reservation communities, levels of participation have historically been very low.
Earlier this month, Rounds, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), along with SVAC Chairman Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-MT), called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the NADL program. The Senators requested the evaluation of the NADL program out of concern that it is not effectively serving Native American veterans. This request is a critical step towards programmatic improvements through legislative or other means.
“It’s been a long-time coming but thanks to Senator Rounds’ leadership, we are finally starting to see some progress with reforming the VA’s Native American Direct Loan program,” says Robert Dunsmore, Tribal Veteran Service Officer for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and also the Co-Chair of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition’s Native Veterans Homeownership Committee.
Over the past several months, Rounds and his staff have met with VA officials and several tribal communities to gain a thorough understanding of the challenges within the NADL program. During this time, they have also worked collaboratively with the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition’s Native Veterans Homeownership Committee to explore potential solutions that would result in higher rates of homeownership for Native American veterans.
“We appreciate the time Senator Rounds and his staff have taken to come here to the Lake Traverse Reservation to see the homes we have built and hear about our concerns. Our veterans deserve to be homeowners, especially after serving our country in higher numbers than any other ethnic group in America,” says Geri Opsal, Tribal Veteran Service Officer for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and also Co-Chair of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition’s Native Veterans Homeownership Committee.
Click below to download and read the letter from Senator Rounds to the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition.
Groups Gather to Advocate for Affordable Housing
Homes for South Dakota, a coalition of approximately 30 nonprofit, public, and private entities, gathered in the rotunda at the State Capitol to raise awareness of the need for affordable housing across the state and to advocate for a dedicated source of revenue for the South Dakota Housing Opportunity Fund (HOF).
During a luncheon, participants called legislative attention to the HOF, a program that has awarded $16.2 million in grant funding to create affordable housing for over 2,000 families since 2013. Currently, funding for HOF comes from budget surpluses, but Homes for South Dakota members argue that a dedicated source of revenue is needed to strategically implement long-term planning and leverage investments for affordable housing projects.
“HOF dollars have been leveraged with other sources time and again to create affordable housing options for families in every county of the state,” says Tawney Brunsch, Executive Committee Member of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, an organization that exhibited at the Homes for South Dakota day at the Capitol.
With rental and real estate prices on the rise, nearly a quarter of all South Dakotans have become housing cost-burdened, meaning that more than 30% of their income is being spent on housing and utilities. These households have little money left for other basic necessities, such as food, medical care, and transportation.
“We have many low- to moderate-income families whose incomes can’t keep up with the increasing housing costs. HOF has been combined with federal funding and private financing to build affordable rental and homeownership units – and even provide down payment assistance in some cases. It is a proven successful solution,” says Brunsch.
Housing Opportunity Fund Case Studies
Developed for the Homes for South Dakota Day at the Capitol, this set of case studies highlights how South Dakota’s Housing Opportunity Fund is creating homeownership opportunities in tribal communities.
Pilot Program Increases Rates of Mortgage Lending on South Dakota’s Reservations
During her address at the National American Indian Housing Council’s Legal Symposium, Tawney Brunsch, Executive Committee Member of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, reported that through a partnership with USDA Rural Development, two Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs) deployed eight home loans totaling nearly $1 million in two reservation communities during the past couple of months – more than was deployed in the previous nine years prior to the start of the program.
USDA Rural Development officially launched the 502 Direct Native CDFI Relending Pilot Program last summer as a way to increase homeownership opportunities on tribal lands, and approval of funds for deployment began in October this year.
“The 502 Relending Pilot has been a huge success! USDA, the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition, and the Native CDFIs have worked together to efficiently expand access to affordable mortgage capital to Native borrowers on trust land,” said Brunsch.
In just two months, the two Native CDFIs participating in the pilot, Four Bands Community Fund on the Cheyenne River Reservation and Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial on the Pine Ridge Reservation, have deployed approximately 50% of the $2 million in loan capital that was allocated to the pilot program and are currently working with 24 more families who are applying for the USDA 502 Direct Loan.
“This deployment rate shows that Native CDFIs are able to leverage their strong relationships within the communities they serve and their expertise in mortgage lending processes on tribal trust lands to accelerate homeownership rates on Indian reservations,” explains Brunsch.
The South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition began advocating for the pilot program in 2015 and worked closely with U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD), U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), and U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND). In March 2018, the South Dakota congressional delegation requested that USDA implement the pilot and recognized that while the 502 Direct Loan program was highly utilized, only 23 of the 7,187 loans made through the program in fiscal year 2017 went to Native American families on tribal lands.
Brunsch says the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition’s next step will be continued advocacy with the intention of making the pilot permanent so that it can be expanded to other Native communities throughout the country.
“We appreciate the leadership of our Senators who made this pilot possible and are excited to partner with the National American Indian Housing Council, National Congress of American Indians, and the Native CDFI Network to support the replication of this successful model in all Native communities,” Brunsch said.
Coalition Advocates for Native Homeownership in Washington DC
During the National American Indian Housing Council’s 2018 Legislative Conference, March 5-7 in Washington, DC, the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition mobilized a group of advocates that engaged in dialogue with numerous congressional representatives and federal agencies. This year’s group of advocates demonstrated a diverse representation of reservation communities, and included Tribally Designated Housing Entities, Tribal Veterans Service Officers, and partners from Cheyenne River, Lower Brule, Rosebud, Sisseton, Standing Rock, and Yankton.
During the DC trip, we met with Tara Sweeney, Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Department of the Interior to discuss the Bureau of Indian Affairs residential lease, mortgage, and Title Status Report approval processes. We urged the Assistant Secretary to streamline these processes, especially the Land Title Records Offices, which are not designed to accommodate the pace of the residential real estate market.
Other highlights included:
Providing updates on the USDA 502 Relending Pilot, and advocating to make it a permanent program for Native communities nationwide. We shared progress on the 502 Relending Pilot, currently being implemented in South Dakota by Four Bands Community Fund and Mazaska Owecaso Otipi Financial, with USDA Rural Development, as well as staff from Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), Senator John Thune (R-SD), and Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), who were all instrumental in launching the pilot. Senator Hoeven even mentioned the 502 Relending Program in his address to the NAIHC Legislative Conference.
Meeting with the US Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss ways to streamline the Native American Direct Loan process in order to expand homeownership opportunities for Native American veterans on trust land. We proposed several policy recommendations that would expand outreach and assistance to Native veterans, design a loan packaging program, and pilot a relending demonstration, similar to the 502 Relending Pilot. We also advocated for these policies in our meeting with Senator Rounds’ Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs staff.
Sharing opportunities and challenges associated with Native homeownership with HUD Office of Native American Programs.We met with Deputy Assistant Secretary Heidi Frechette to advocate for solutions that would streamline processes and increase homeownership opportunities for Native Americans. Specifically, we discussed improving the implementation of HUD VASH vouchers, issues with the HUD Section 184 Indian Home Loan program, and BIA issues.
Meeting with Administration for Native Americans (ANA) Commissioner Jeannie Hovland and her staff to learning about how ANA’s programs could benefit the members of the Coalition.