American Indian Housing Costs to Rise under Welfare Reform, Group Says Story-Date: 11:21 a.m. PST Tuesday , February 16, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------ American Indian Housing Costs to Rise under Welfare Reform, Group Says By Mark Fogarty, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Feb. 15--WASHINGTON, D.C.--Reforming welfare will jack up Indian housing costs by at least $122 million a year, according to the National American Indian Housing Council. But, the group said effects should vary considerably from area to area, since some tribal housing entities have many fewer welfare recipients than other, and high unemployment may soften the impact of the new rules. The council, which held its legislative conference here recently, addressed welfare reform in legislative information and a report released at the conference. It concludes that with welfare reform "Indian families in the federally-assisted Indian housing program are at risk, along with the Tribally Designated Housing Entities that serve them." The group sees two areas of impact: Tribal members losing benefits will add costs to the entities, and tribal members losing benefits in urban areas may move back to their homelands, where housing already is scarce. The commission report, co-writtened by Norman DeWeaver of the Native American Employment and Training Coalition, analyzed a sample of 81 entities from Department of Housing and Urban Development data and found that half have fewer than 10 percent of welfare-dependent households, while the other half ranges from 10 percent up to 41 percent. Sixteen of the 81 had 20 percent or more of their households on welfare, and the report noted "for these 16 TDHEs, what happens to residents dependent on welfare benefits as a major source of cash income may be critical." The highest percentage of welfare residents in the entities sampled was at the Port Gamble S'klallam tribe of Washington, with 41 percent. The entitity of Red Lake, Minn. was second at 38 percent, while the Wind River entitity in Wyoming took the bronze, at 35 percent. On the other end of the curve, entities at Fort McDowell, Ariz., the Sac and Fox in Iowa, and the Chitimacha in Louisiana had no residents on welfare. Three entities had only 1 percent, while four more had just 2 percent. Tribal housing entities such as these "may be relatively unaffected by the potential loss of rental payments that welfare reform could potentially trigger," the report said. The commission noted that the requirements of welfare reform are that recipients must make some work effort in the next 24 months, and that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is limited to 60 months. In Indian country, it noted the following problems with the reforms: rural areas, scarce or non-existent jobs, transportation problems, and lack of higher education. But, there are exemptions to time limits for areas of 50 percent or more unemployment, and many tribal areas fall into this category. According to the study, 29 of the 81 entities may be exempt by BIA job data, and 36 would pass if U.S. Census data on joblessness was used. Nine of the 16 entities with more than 20 percent welfare families may be exempt. Another way to mitigate welfare reform is to have welfare recipients obtain jobs. Although the study couldn't answer as to how many families might move off welfare rolls on reservations, it said "one finding stands out. On those reservations where new jobs are available in quantity, many welfare recipients go to work." It said welfare roll declines of 30 percent to 40 percent were noted at tribes that started gaming enterprises, like the Eastern band of Cherokee in North Carolina and the Couer d'Alenes in Idaho. The council report urged three strategies to mitigate reservation welfare reform impact. The first is for entities to help tribal residents get unsubsidized jobs. The second is to collaborate with other tribal agencies to move welfare recipients into work. And the third is to understand better what welfare reform is all about. But the report concluded that few of the social conditions envisioned for welfare reform are in place in Indian reservations -- an expanding job market, access to job training, education or substance abuse programs, an ability to locate jobs independently. "Working against the odds, in a concerted way, TDHEs, tribal leaders, other tribal programs and the reservation community as a whole must all address welfare reform's challenge." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ (c) 1999, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------