[nativestudies-l] NEWS: ICT reports on tribal housing agencies' lawsuit against HUD

[Alyssa Mt. Pleasant]

  Eight more tribal housing agencies suing HUD


      By Rob Capriccioso

Story Published: Dec 5, 2008
Find this article at: http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/35562009.html

WASHINGTON -- Eight more Indian housing agencies have sued the U.S. 
Department of Housing & Urban Development and its Office of Native 
American Programs in federal court.

They claim the department illegally reduced the amount of annual block 
grant funding they're entitled to under federal law.

The tribes have joined more than 25 other reservation-based housing 
agencies in suing HUD to recover money that the federal agency had 
allocated to tribal housing programs and then took back after conducting 
internal financial audits.

The first tribal housing agency to sue HUD over the issue was the Fort 
Peck Housing Authority in January 2005. That case is currently in the 
appeals process before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado.

The latest spate of suits occurred after Congress this fall passed 
reauthorization of the Native American Housing and Self-Determination 
Act. The legislation, which was signed into law by President George W. 
Bush on Oct. 13, placed a deadline on when any program had to file suit 
against HUD for its prior actions. That deadline was Nov. 28.

In the new suit, filed Nov. 26, the tribal agencies asserted that HUD 
has unfairly "recaptured" funds and did so in an arbitrary way, hurting 
their ability to address housing needs on their reservations. The 
plaintiffs said HUD recaptured funds by reducing future NAHASDA 
allocations to tribal housing agencies after it conducted internal 
reviews in the early 2000s.

According to lawyers for the plaintiffs, the housing entities have ended 
up losing millions of dollars that are badly needed to manage existing 
Indian housing and build new housing.

Article continued at: http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/35562009.html
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