Let's talk about the part of this new federal housing law that matters most for our region: tribal housing. And I'll be straight with you — the National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) has already said what a lot of us were thinking when we read the fine print. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act does not include a standalone Tribal housing title, and it does not touch NAHASDA — the actual law that governs most federal Tribal housing funding. That's the big miss here.

But it's not nothing. Tribes and Tribal housing organizations do show up in this bill in a few places, and if you're connected to a Tribal housing entity in our region, these are worth knowing. Tribes get pulled in as eligible participants in several programs, there are coordination requirements with existing Tribal programs, and there's some administrative recognition — references to BIA documentation and trust land leaseholds that acknowledge how land actually works up here, instead of pretending everyone's dealing with a standard Lower 48 title.

A few sections worth bookmarking: Section 202, the Whole-Home Repairs Act, recognizes trust land leaseholds and lets Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) serve as subrecipients — meaning local Tribal housing orgs could administer repair funds directly. Section 205 lets Tribes take on delegated environmental review authority, which could speed things up locally. Section 304 makes Tribes, TDHEs, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands eligible for PRICE Act funding, though it's discretionary, not guaranteed. And Section 504 makes Tribes eligible disaster-recovery grantees in their own right.

If you're working with Bering Straits, Solomon, King Island, Kawerak, Nome Eskimo, or another Tribal entity in the region, these are the sections worth asking your contacts about.

Questions about how any of this applies to your specific situation? That's exactly what Nome Sweet Homes is here for — give us a call.