National American Indian Housing Council

NAIHC Executive Director to Leave Organization

Published: November 3, 2022

Under: News

WASHINGTON, DC—Friday, October 7, 2022—The National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC), a Washington, DC-based organization that advocates for and supports tribal housing programs providing quality and affordable housing in tribal communities, announced today that the Executive Director, Anthony “Tony” Walters, will be departing the organization in the coming months. Walters, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has led NAIHC for five years and helped advance a tribal housing agenda in Congress and the Administration.

“Tony has decided to leave the organization in the near future in order to live in his home state of Oklahoma and we wish him the best. He has done an outstanding job as our Executive Director since March 2018. He guided the organization through the Coronavirus pandemic, as our organization shifted its work environment to remote work,” said NAIHC Board Chairman Thomas Lozano. “Under Tony’s leadership, NAIHC increased its training and technical assistance notwithstanding the challenging work environment and continued its advocacy for housing programs. NAIHC intends to hire a new Executive Director who will reside in Washington, D.C. Tony has agreed to remain with us during the transition period as we recruit and train the new Executive Director.”

During Walters’ tenure at NAIHC, tribal housing programs saw gains through increased investment in tribal communities. Over the last five years, Congress increased annual funding to the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) for tribal housing programs and created a separate competitive IHBG to spur new housing construction. Additionally, tribal housing programs received over $2 billion in Covid-related funding packages.

“I want to thank the Board of Directors and all of the NAIHC members for providing me the opportunity to lead NAIHC for the past five years. I believe NAIHC has maintained its position as a strong advocate for tribal communities and tribal housing programs in Washington, D.C. and continues to provide top quality training and technical assistance to our members and industry partners,” said Walters. “While I am excited to return home to be with family in Oklahoma and begin the next phase of my career, I am also happy for the relationships I have built within the tribal housing community and hope our paths continue to cross. I look forward to continuing our collective efforts to improve conditions and opportunities facing Native Americans, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiians across the United States.”

Before joining NAIHC, Walters served as Staff Director and Chief Counsel to Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) for the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Prior to that he worked as a policy advisor in the Department of the Interior’s Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs.

NAIHC plans to begin recruiting for the Executive Director position in the next few weeks.