Fronteras

Anne Hoffman

These homes, one built by NHA, one a trailer and one a wooden building are common in reservation neighborhoods.

The Navajo Housing Authority will reveal its plan this week to tackle the tribe’s desperate housing need, but it’s still trying to patch things up with the federal government. 

In 2009 the former head of Navajo Housing Authority was forced to leave when he was indicted for mismanaging funds. 

The new CEO Aneva Yazzie has been trying to reorganize the agency, but it has amassed a $430 million backlog in federal funds. The government told Yazzie if Navajo Housing didn’t spend its backlog, they’d lose it. 

So she has spent much of the money on housing needs assessments, master plans and flood mapping. But the federal government has said the housing authority is not spending fast enough.  

"If we’re not successful in the administrative hearing process they would want $96 million paid back to the government, which would impact about 700 families on the reservation," Yazzie said. "The need is still so urgent so desperate on the reservation yet they want to take a blind eye to that."

A recent assessment showed a need for more than 34,000 homes. Many Navajo people are tired of plans and want to see more actual homes. The Navajo bureaucratic red tape can hold up projects. Yazzie said she wants sustainable communities and that takes time.