Sunday, July 25, 2004

WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE ON THE WAITING LIST FOR DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOMES LANDS LEASES IF HAWAIIANS BECOME FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED ?

THEY KEEP WAITING...THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS!

"30,000 people are on the waiting list  housing in tribal areas" -  Chester Carl, National American Indian Housing Council Chairman and Executive

Meanwhile,  reservation residents , face years on waiting lists. About 100,000 Indian families nationwide live in shabby, often overcrowded quarters, some without plumbing or electricity. (The American West) 

Alaska...For the last two years the waiting list was at 200 percent of the available units However this year the rate has dropped to 30 percent . The Rural Housing Authority attributed this drop to residents moving away due to lack of jobs

Tribal members interested in applying for this home ownership program need to be aware and cautioned that the Housing Authority does have an extensive waiting list of more than 4,200 for homeownership,” said Ron Qualls, executive director, HACN. (Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation)

Paiute Housing Authority---Currently there are over 300 applicant families on the waiting list in desperate need of housing. There are many who have become discouraged after being on the list for years who have not renewed their applications. In southwestern Utah there is a desperate need for new homes to accommodate a very long waiting list of Native American families

I have a waiting list with 1,000 people on it,” Victor Velasquez (White Mountain Apache Housing  Authority) says. “It doesn’t take a math genius to figure out that if you just depend on NAHASDA money you're never going to get your people housed." 

 These are not isolated examples, they are the norm....federal wardship is not the cure for long waiting lists as some might like people to believe.