Indian Housing Office Returns to Washington, D.C., after Year in Denver Story-Date: 02:38 p.m. PST Thursday , December 4, 1997 ------------------------------------------------------------ Indian Housing Office Returns to Washington, D.C., after Year in Denver By Eric Nalder and Deborah Nelson, The Seattle Times Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News SEATTLE--Dec. 4--A federal program that botched significant portions of its mission -- finding housing for needy Native Americans -- is having trouble settling on a home for itself. Just a year ago, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's troubled Office of Native American Programs moved its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Denver, to the dismay of many tribal leaders and at a cost to taxpayers of more than $500,000. Now the program director's office is moving back to the nation's capital as part of a restructuring that is likely to re-establish headquarters there. The apparent retreat was revealed Wednesday when HUD officials announced that Alaska Native Jacqueline Johnson will be the new program director, starting next month -- in Washington. Kevin Marchman, assistant acting secretary for public and Indian housing, explained that Johnson is needed in Washington because of ongoing budget negotiations and other major changes under way in the housing program. Those were precisely the needs cited by critics of the move to Denver. The move, which cost as much as the construction of five houses, was led by the former director of the Indian housing program, Dominic Nessi. Some HUD employees claimed the move was for Nessi's personal benefit, because he used to live in Denver. Nessi denied any personal stake in the move, describing it instead as an effort to get the national headquarters closer to the people it serves, most of whom are in the West. But many tribal leaders say the office in Denver is no more convenient, and in fact forces them to travel to two places: They must still go to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress and meet with staff members of other federal agencies. Among the critics is Johnson, the new program director. She chairs the National American Indian Housing Council, which represents tribal-housing officials, and which protested the move. Johnson said the director needs to be in Washington. "If I'm truly going to be in a position to establish relationships with other departments and to develop partnerships with other national organizations, it's key to be in D.C.," she said. However, some top staff positions will remain in Denver for now, she said. The move to Denver occurred late last year just as The Seattle Times was publishing a series of stories exposing waste and corruption in HUD's Native-American housing program. Money that was supposed to assist some of the nation's most poorly housed people had been diverted to wasteful projects for higher-income tribal officials. The cost of the move to Denver was mostly the expense of relocating more than a dozen HUD officials across the country. Other employees were hired in the Denver area. There are now 23 headquarters employees in Denver and seven in Washington. ----- Visit The Seattle Times Extra on the World Wide Web at http://www.seattletimes.com ----- (c) 1997, The Seattle Times. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------