Housing Rehab Archives

White Mountain Apache Housing Authority Serves its Veterans

November 23, 2020/in Blog Posts, Our Work, Rural News, Success Stories High Need Regions, Homeowner Housing, Housing Rehab, Native American, Native American Lands, Veterans, Vulnerable Populations

The White Mountain Apache Housing Authority (WMAHA) helps the members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe to overcome their individual housing needs. Of these, almost 500 are U.S. military veterans. Working in the Fort Apache Indian Reservation located in eastern central Arizona, WMAHA serves the 16,000 enrolled members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe and strives to ensure that every tribal member has safe housing they can afford. The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) is proud to be a partner of WMAHA and their amazing work. In 2018, we awarded a $30,000 grant through The Home Depot Foundation‘s Veteran Housing Grants Program to WMAHA to help support their veterans. In celebration of Veterans Day and Native American Heritage Month, we’d like to highlight just a few of the many ways the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority serves the veterans of the White Mountain Apache Tribe.

Before rehab of a veteran’s home completed by WMAHA in 2018

After rehab of a veteran’s home completed by WMAHA in 2018

Before and after of a rehab of a veteran’s home completed by WMAHA in 2018

As many veterans know, service doesn’t end when you’re discharged. It’s a value that is carried for a lifetime. For WMAHA, service is key to the mission. The Veteran Home Rehabilitation Program serves those who have served our country. Many of the low-income Apache veterans the Housing Authority assists are in desperate need of multiple, expensive repairs to make sure their homes are safe, accessible, and livable. But without the ability to make these repairs themselves, many veterans need help.

Over the last eight years, the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority has rehabilitated (or in one case built!) 19 homes for their veterans, each of which required multiple major repairs for health, safety, and accessibility. All of this was performed at no cost to the veteran or their family. Last year WMAHA was able to set a record with 5 rehabilitations.

Making sure their veterans have safe and healthy homes is a point of pride for WMAHA and for the entire White Mountain Apache community. After all, WMAHA doesn’t work alone: each rehabilitation is made possible by scores of volunteers. As the team from WMAHA explains, “the number of volunteers who come and help with demolition and construction cleanup during the projects” is a testament to the rehabilitation program’s “impact on the community.” From the Housing Authority to everyday members, including community partners, the White Mountain Apache Tribe takes care of its veterans. By taking care of those who took care of us, WMAHA is serving both its community and the broader community of veterans nationwide.

The COVID pandemic has hit many Native communities particularly hard, and tragically, the White Mountain Apache are no exception. During the pandemic, unemployment, which usually runs 80% according to WMAHA, has far surpassed that amount, and food insecurity is “at a critical level.” Many of the low-income veterans WMAHA assists don’t have a way to pick up food from the local food bank, so the Housing Authority is starting to deliver the food boxes itself. Not content to just help house their veterans, WMAHA is committed to improving their quality of life.

Caring for veterans extends outside the home, too. For WMAHA, ensuring their veterans have access to the Veterans Affairs benefits they deserve is a critical mission. With 1.67 million acres, the Fort Apache Indian Reservation is large and rural. This creates challenges for many of the Tribe’s low-income veterans. Many of the nearest VA hospitals are hundreds of miles away, which makes even getting to routine appointments incredibly difficult. This distance makes it so challenging to receive disability ratings, see specialists, and make necessary appointments that, according to Barb Connerley, a consultant who works with WMAHA, “many of the veterans…do not know what VA benefits are available to them.”

This veteran’s home was in such disrepair the team from WMAHA decided to tear it down and start from scratch.	This veteran’s home was in such disrepair the team from WMAHA decided to tear it down and start from scratch.
This veteran’s home was in such disrepair the team from WMAHA decided to tear it down and start from scratch.

The White Mountain Apache Housing Authority has created a solution to help connect their veterans to the VA medical care they earned through their service. Since 2017, the White Mountain Apache Tribe Department of Transportation has operated Fort Apache Connection Transit (FACT), a 2-route bus system serving 12 stops across the Reservation. While this system doesn’t provide access to the nearest VA hospitals, the Housing Authority recently began repurposing one of their buses to transport veterans to their VA appointments. Multiple times a month, WMAHA will be providing veterans with a bus ride to their appointments and back home. They even take the time to help the veterans complete their paperwork to file for VA benefits.

For the trip, WMAHA provides their veterans with water, snacks, masks, and COVID safety information. They hope that this program can also serve as a teaching event, helping their veterans learn more about COVID safety as well as how to access their VA benefits. The program’s strength is its ingenuity—bringing together transit, healthcare, and informational services—in solving a critical problem for the Tribe’s veterans. Thanks to the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority, veterans living on reservation now have access to the critical VA healthcare they’ve earned through their service.

Many veterans return from their service to find it difficult to access the resources of their communities, including housing. Tragically, Native communities are overrepresented among persistent poverty counties, making these resources even harder to access. The Housing Assistance Council is committed to helping build community resources for housing where they’re needed most. Partners like WMAHA help us give back to our veterans and uplift Native communities. As Barb Connerley puts it, the Tribe’s veterans “have a proud tradition of military service and sacrifice.” The work of the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority pays respect to that service and sacrifice through service, care, and ingenuity of its own.

USDA Rural Development Obligations FY 20 – September

October 6, 2020/in RD Recent Obligations, USDA Information and Data Homeowner Housing, Housing Rehab, Rental Housing, Rental Housing Development and Preservation, U.S. Department of Agriculture

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE REPORT (THROUGH September FY 2020)

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2020 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.

As of the end of September, USDA obligated 151,874 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $24,528,082,505. This is $8,149,932,673 higher than obligation levels from this time last year. At that time, there were112,764 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $16,378,149,832.

The agency operated under several continuing resolutions and a 35-day government shutdown last year and obligations have come back to a more normal level in FY 2020. The FY 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019 which provided funding for the rest of this fiscal year. Since March 20, 2020, USDA offices have been operating from remote locations due to the COVID-19 virus.

Single Family Housing Program Highlights

The Section 502 Guaranteed loan program, the largest of the Single Family Housing programs, obligated $23,074,581,633 (137,970 loan guarantees) up from $14,865,886,386 ( 99,322 loan guarantees) last year.

For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $1,001,414,954 (5,821 loans), similar to last year’s obligation level of $1,001,607,718 (6,194 loans.) About 40 percent of the loan dollars went to Very Low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented nearly 45 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.

The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 2,739 loans representing $16,640,730. Loan volume was up from this time last year (2,735 loans representing $17,364,032.) There were also about $31,541,672 (4,842 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to $24,796,734 (3,908 grants) last year.

USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 55 grants and contracts totaling $32,783,534 up from last year’s 37 grants and contracts totaling $29,001,946.

USDA funded 4 credit sales representing $471,052.

Multi-Family Housing Programs

USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing obligated 150 loan guarantees totaling $228,486,473, higher than last year’s 90 loan guarantees ($160,390,167.) In the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program, there were 40 loans totaling $40,000,001 (including disaster assistance) obligated compared to 86 loans totaling $102,022,213 last year. There have been 80 loans and 5 grants obligated in the MPR program totaling $57,084,997 and $251,778 this year compared to 205 loans and 3 grants representing $130,308,556 and $988,734, respectively last year.

The Farm Labor Housing programs funded 15 loans and 7 grants totaling $20,094,577 and $8,935,855 respectively. Last year at this time, 17 loans and 7 grants were obligated ($19,985,387 and $8,707,162, respectively.)

There were 126 Section 533 Housing Preservation grants obligated this year totaling $15,626,425.

USDA obligated funds for 241,208 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $1,375,000,000. This compares to about 252,319 units ($1,331,400,000) obligated same time last year. There were also 7,489 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling $34,544,766 compared to 6,559 vouchers representing $28,623,289 this time last year.

Download the combined document.

* The Rural Housing Service (RHS) monthly obligation reports are produced by the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) 1025 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 606, Washington, DC 20005. The monthly figures derive from HAC tabulations of USDA –RHS 205c, d, and f report data. For questions or comments about the obligation reports, please contact Michael Feinberg at 202-842-8600 or michael@ruralhome.org.

USDA Rural Development Obligations FY 20 – January

March 5, 2020/in RD Recent Obligations, USDA Information and Data Homeowner Housing, Housing Rehab, Rental Housing, Rental Housing Development and Preservation, U.S. Department of Agriculture

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE REPORT (THROUGH January FY 2020)

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) presents this month’s report on Fiscal Year 2020 USDA Rural Housing program obligations.

As of the end of January, USDA obligated 43,467 loans, loan guarantees, and grants totaling about $6,685,869,698. This is $3,029,686,464 more than obligation levels from this time last year. At that time, there were 27,902 loans, loan guarantees, and grants obligated totaling $3,656,183,234.

The agency operated under several continuing resolutions and a 35-day government shutdown last year and obligations have come back to a more normal level in FY 2020. The FY 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed into law on December 20, 2019 which provided funding for the rest of this fiscal year.

Single Family Housing Program Highlights

The Section 502 Guaranteed loan program, the largest of the Single Family Housing programs, obligated $6,327,431,982 (39,521 loan guarantees) down from $3,454,467,100 ( 24,212 loan guarantees) last year.

For the Section 502 Direct program, loan obligations totaled $284,675,985 (1,684 loans), down from $136,719,298 ( 884 loans) this time last year. About 41 percent of the loan dollars went to Very low-income (VLI) applicants. VLI loans represented nearly 46 percent of the total number of Section 502 Direct loans.

The Section 504 Repair and Rehabilitation programs obligated 785 loans representing $4,693,566. Loan volume was up from this time last year ( 513 loans representing $3,030,230.) There were also about $9,028,020 ( 785 grants) obligated in the Section 504 grant program compared to $3,929,482 ( 657 grants) last year.

USDA’s Section 523 Self Help Housing Grant program funded 2 grants and contracts totaling $1,870,512 up from last year’s 2 grants and contracts totaling $975,000.

USDA funded 2 credit sales representing $247,120.

Multi-Family Housing Programs

USDA’s Section 538 Multifamily Housing obligated 26 loan guarantees totaling $39,448,658, down from last year’s 34 loan guarantees ($47,147,737.) In the Section 515 Rural Rental Housing program, there were 0 loans totaling $0 (including disaster assistance) obligated compared to 2 loans totaling $2,877,000 last year. Obligations in the MPR program include 0 MPR loans totaling $0 and 3 grants totaling $988,934 compared to 0 loans and 0 grants representing $0 and $0 last year.

The Farm Labor Housing programs funded 7 loans and 5 grants totaling $12,620,000 and $5,853,855 respectively. Last year, 0 loans and 0 grants were obligated ($0 and $0, respectively.)

There were 0 Section 533 Housing Preservation grants totaling $0 have been obligated so far this year, compared to 0 grants last year totaling $0.

USDA obligated funds for 46,402 rental assistance units under the Section 521 Rental Assistance program totaling $273,194,031. This compares to about 21,914 units ($99,595,161) obligated same time last year. There were also 1,054 Rural Housing Vouchers totaling $5,606,238 compared to 1,596 vouchers representing $6,879,602 this time last year.