Access to a safe home is critical to make people
feel secure. It improves health and
raises hope for a prosperous future. I have seen the way homeownership can
positively affect a family, including children who have a secure environment. That’s
why I am so proud of our New Home Construction Program. It is improving lives
of our Cherokee people family by family and home by home.
Recently, in the community of Vian in Sequoyah
County, we announced plans to build 30 new homes. This will help 30 Cherokee
families become new or first-time homeowners. That will be a monumental
achievement for them and it will improve their quality of life, as well as be a
boon for local Cherokee builders and contractors. Additionally, every child
living within the new homes will take approximately $2,800 in impact aid to the
local school system.
The three-bedroom homes in Vian will be about 1,200
square feet each. The housing addition is being built on property owned by
Cherokee Nation Businesses and will eventually transfer to the Housing
Authority of the Cherokee Nation. CNB will also manage the construction effort.
Part of our mission at Cherokee Nation Businesses is to provide economic
development and employment opportunities to Cherokee citizens. This project
allows us to achieve both of those goals.
Home recipients will be selected from the waiting
list of new home construction applicants who do not own land. It fills a dire
need within our tribe, as we have heard from hundreds of Cherokees who need
help with a home but do not have the land available to them.
We restarted the Cherokee Nation’s New Home
Construction Program in 2012 to help Cherokee families. It is a program that
historically is second to none across Indian Country. This program empowers our
families, so reestablishing an avenue for Cherokees to become homeowners was
one of my earliest goals. Tribal citizens who want and need the tribe’s help to
become homeowners should be assisted.
To date, Cherokee Nation has built 343 homes and has
more than 300 new homes in various stages of construction throughout the
tribe’s 14-county jurisdiction. We will soon be creating housing additions in
Adair, Cherokee, Craig and Delaware counties. This program is so special
because it helps our citizens achieve the American dream, creates economic
opportunities and strengthens families.
Good government makes improving the lives of its
people and future generations the priority. The new home opportunities play a
critical role in making sure the Cherokee Nation government is fulfilling that
obligation.
We will continue to focus on ways to make real and
lasting impacts in the lives of Cherokees.
0 comments:
Post a Comment