As Principal
Chief of the Cherokee Nation, I have focused our agenda on prioritizing homes,
health and hope. For me it’s more than a phrase that’s on a poster or a
magazine. To me, it’s the future of our tribe. We have expanded our health
clinics and secured a federal partnership for a new state-of-the-art hospital.
We have increased hope with more jobs and more opportunities to pursue
education.
On the
homes front, we are being just as progressive. Recently, we shifted our housing
rehabilitation program under the umbrella of the Housing Authority of Cherokee
Nation, which over the past 50 years has proven to be an effective and
efficient organization with a strong national reputation across Indian Country.
The Housing
Authority has multiple satellite offices across our 14-county jurisdiction, and
those field offices will now host our housing rehabilitation staff. This merger
of similar programs is logical and will immediately benefit our people. The
demand for housing services continues to increase, and now all of our housing
programs are in a one-stop shop.
Since
fall 2012, the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation has constructed more than
325 new homes for Cherokee families under the tribe’s New Home Construction
program. In the coming months, that number will rise as more new homes are
completed and we break ground on future homes. The housing rehabilitation
program helped renovate or replace 609 Cherokee homes through its department in
FY15.
Our
housing team has a heavy workload and huge demand continues to climb, but this
transition will provide better organization and increase networking and
communication, which will result in improved services for Cherokees.
Soon we
will address even more home repair issues for elders and the disabled because
the Cherokee Nation was awarded an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development. We will utilize this funding specifically to
assist some of our most vulnerable citizens, and the new HUD money will free up
our existing budget to do more housing rehabilitation or replacement homes for
all Cherokee families. We can make Cherokee homes more comfortable by making
energy-efficient upgrades, fixing a leaky roof or remodeling a bathroom to make
it handicap accessible.
Streamlining
our capabilities in the housing arena will ensure quality homes keep our
Cherokee families safe and secure as they pursue their dreams.
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