National American Indian Housing Council

NAIHC Steps Into 2022 with Advocacy and Training Goals

Published: February 9, 2022
Under: News

Published on January 5th, 2022

On behalf of the National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) staff, we hope everyone enjoyed a restful holiday break and we wish all a safe and healthy 2022. Even with the Covid-19 pandemic still impacting our people and communities, NAIHC continues to work for tribes and ended 2021 with several significant milestones for the organization and tribal housing.

Let’s start with funding. Since the beginning of the pandemic, tribal housing programs have seen the biggest influx of resources since the 2009 American Rescue and Recovery Act. In the past two years alone, tribal housing programs have collectively received over $4 billion in federal funding:

Moving onto training and technical assistance (TTA). Despite the pandemic (or likely in response to it), NAIHC provided more TTA in 2021 than in prior years. To ensure the safety of your staff and communities, most sessions in 2021 were virtual. Here’s the breakdown of NAIHC’s TTA activities:

  • HUD Trainings
  • 45 courses with 1150 participants and serving 198 tribes
  • HUD Technical Assistance
  • 208 TA sessions and serving 65 tribes
  • Leadership Institute
  • 3 classes offered to 70 participants representing 31 tribes

Looking ahead to 2022, NAIHC’s focus is on NAHASDA – continuing our advocacy for reauthorization and increased annual funding and celebrating the 25th anniversary of the law. At the Legal Symposium in December 2021, we brought together three long-time housing champions to discuss the impacts of NAHASDA and where we can take it in the future (watch panel here). As you all know very well, the future of tribal housing depends heavily on adequate funding for your programs which have been level funded for almost as long as NAHASDA has existed – that’s nearly 25 years! In 2022, NAIHC will work to ensure tribes are receiving the resources from federal partners to provide much needed housing services to our American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian families and community members. Join our Legislative Committee meetings on the first Thursday of every month to stay involved.

Moving into the new year, NAIHC will provide high-quality trainings and technical assistance that are designed to respond to the needs of your programs and staff. We are aiming to build a virtual library of ‘on-demand’ trainings, which will include standard NAHASDA trainings as well as more Leadership Institute curriculum courses. Based on your feedback, we know that in-person trainings and technical assistance are valuable opportunities to share your programs success and learn best practices from peers. However, NAIHC continues to be mindful of tribal travel policies around Covid-19 and we will give notice of changes to any in-person events.

Thank you to those who joined us for the Legal Symposium in Las Vegas. We invite everyone to our 2022 events:

  • NAIHC | AMERIND Annual Convention – May 17-19 in Seattle, WA (more info coming soon)
  • Legal Symposium – December 13-14 in Las Vegas, NV (mark your calendar)

Also, in the next couple of months, we are excited to share a new training schedule, launch a resource hub, and continue our NAHASDA 25th Anniversary campaign to educate and urge action among lawmakers, policymakers, and the public on the growing housing needs in Indian Country. Please share your NAHASDA stories with us!

Though our communities are facing hardships with the pandemic, Covid-19 has also shown that our people are truly resilient. It is with that resiliency that NAIHC continues our work. Thank you for your support, and please let us know how NAIHC can help your programs accomplish your goals this year!

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