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The Programs |
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Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (July 2006 Vol. I No. 8) |
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Page 6 |
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NCTH Authority Offers a “Homeownership”
Sign-up List Lafe Haugen [Acting
Director, The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing
Authority is currently taking applications for the new ‘Homeownership’
program that is going to be instituted soon. If you are interested in becoming
a Homeowner, come down to the Housing Authority main office and fill out an
application. Please note on the application that you are signing up for the
Homeownership program. If you have already signed up for this program
before, please fill out another application, noting that you are updating all
of your current information and are still interested in buying a home. |
The Housing Authority has recaptured
many abandoned homes and we are currently remodeling them. Once they are
completed, we will be looking at the updated list to see who is
income-eligible and who qualifies to purchase the home. Once a selection from
the list is made, we offer down-payment assistance to help those applicants
who may also apply for loans from banks and other lending agencies located in
In addition to these recaptured homes,
we have Air Force 2 homes that we will be setting on foundations this fall
and we also have the 10-homes in So
come on down and put your application in. We look forward to helping you
become homebuyers and eventual homeowners. Tribal Report of the |
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HUD Gives NCTHA Clean Bill of Health Lafe Haugen [Acting Executive Director, The Northern Plains Office of Native American
Programs has notified the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing Authority that all
findings from the 2004 financial audit are closed. In a letter dated May 25 2006, Deborah
Kiel, Director of Grants Evaluation for HUD’s Northern Plains office noted
that the NCTHA prepared a corrective action plan and submitted the audit to
the Federal Clearinghouse as required by Office of Management and Budget
Circular A-133 part 315. The NCTHA submitted a comprehensive response using a
binder that was tabbed and included back-up material to support the requested
corrective action. The final response
was several inches thick. Many of the findings that were closed dated back to
2001. The significance of the action will
substantially improve the ability of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing
Authority to meet its goals and objectives.
Having a clear audit will allow the Housing Authority to access
several new resources that have never been utilized by The HUD action put closure on an effort started several years back, when the NCTHA was designated by HUD as “High Risk.” That action, due to over 40 audit findings, limited the programs and projects that could have been initiated by the Housing Authority. Additionally, monthly monitoring reports and heavy HUD oversight requires more involvement from the Board of Commissioners and Tribal Council. |
In
January of this year, President Little Coyote traveled with Housing Authority
Staff and Board members to Hours of hard work by the NCTHA staff to
complete findings, which ranged from conveyance of paid-off Old Mutual Help
units to a Tenant Accounts Receivable, to reduction strategies. When findings were completed and reported
in detail, they were sent to HUD within the allotted timeline. “I am so proud of the work completed at This is the first time in history that
the Northern Cheyenne Housing Authority has ever had a clear audit. A
‘special thanks’ goes out to President Eugene Little Coyote, the Board of
Commissioners, and all of the Tribal Council who supported us in making this
a reality. We could not have done this without their cooperation and support.
This is definitely a historical moment for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe as
this feat has never been accomplished before, Ha-ho. Tribal Report of the |
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NCTHA gets Landlord and Tenants Rights Ordinance and
Mortgage Lending Code passed by Tribal Council Lafe Haugen [Acting Executive Director, The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Housing
Authority recently presented the revamped Landlord and Tenants Rights
Ordinance and the Mortgage Lending Code to the Tribal Council. I testified in
front of the Council on these two very important items on why they are so
important to the Housing Authority’s and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe’s
future. Most of our Tribal members have this notion that we wanted these
passed so we could start evicting people. That is not the reason at all. The main reason that we needed these
items passed is so we could open up the reservation to Lending Institutions.
These institutions would not set foot on the reservation until these
safeguards are in place. In areas off of the reservation, if a person
forecloses on their property (if the loan is not paid off), the bank can sell
the property to whomever they want. In the code that the NCTHA drafted and
that the Tribal Council passed, the Tribe or the Housing Authority has
priority at the property in the case of a foreclosure. This is definitely a
plus for our tribe as the property can never leave the hands of a Northern
Cheyenne Tribal member. A lot of homebuyers have recently had
their homes conveyed to them, yet they may not realize that these homes |
are worth
money and have equity in them. The single biggest investment for most
Americans off the reservation is their home. Their home is used for all kinds
of low interest loans that they can use to buy cars, boats, RVs, etc. Our
Tribal Members who own their own homes are unaware of the equity of their
homes, and thus are unable to capitalize on borrowing money to purchase or
invest in other items. We are all used to paying high interest
rates on automobile loans, credit cards, and quick loans. Those interest
rates vary from 9%, to as high as 25%, if a person doesn’t have good credit.
This is significantly less versus the 6% on a conventional mortgage on a good
home. A person could borrow the same amount against a home as he/she would on
a car, and save literally thousands of dollars in a 5- year loan.
Additionally, all of the interest that a person pays on his/her loan is tax
deductible at the end of the year, so it is a great tax break as well. I wanted to share this information to
help clarify and to answer questions that the general public has had
concerning both of these issues. I am starting to get calls from homeowners
who are borrowing money on their houses. They say that this is a “godsend”
and are very grateful to the lenders that are starting to lend on the
reservation. A lot of these people are in debt and they are telling me that
their home is getting them out of debt. Now they are able to get a chance to
start over without going into bankruptcy. If any homebuyers, homeowners, or tribal
members have any questions or concerns regarding these two issues, feel free
to stop by my office and I will gladly visit with you on your questions.
Ha-ho. Tribal Report of the Northern
Cheyenne Nation (July 2006 Vol. I No. 8), page 6. |
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