Hearing hits housing hot buttons

The Christmastime eviction of 10 Navajo families from their housing has focused public attention on the Navajo Nation's housing crisis, but only three people responded to a public hearing on housing needs held Tuesday at Greyhills Academy High School.

The hearing was one of several held since May by the Government Services Committee, a standing committee of the Navajo Nation Council that has oversight authority for the Navajo Housing Authority, a tribal enterprise.

However, the committee limited advance notice of the hearings and so it's unclear how many people knew about it.

Each year NHA receives millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, money that is channeled into the construction of new housing and management of existing tribal housing on the reservation.

Committee member Lee Jack Jr. (White Cone/Indian Wells) said he sought the hearings after community members from his area lodged numerous allegations of mismanagement and construction problems involving their NHA homes.

Hearings have been held in Chinle, Tsé Daa K'aan, Kayenta, Huerfano and Ganado chapters, and have been well attended, committee staff said. Additional hearings are planned at Dilkon and Crownpoint.

Jack said the committee will compile the testimony gathered and present it to the NHA board.

The Tuba City hearing was the first held since 10 families in Church Rock, N.M., were evicted by an NHA contractor, Sandstone Housing, which manages the NHA subdivision there.

Jack said people who missed the housing hearing in their area are welcome to testify at the upcoming hearings. The next hearing will be in Dilkon, possibly at the Navajo Christian Foundation, and is scheduled for Feb. 2 beginning about 10 a.m. The committee plans to hold a final hearing in Crownpoint at the end of February.

Cold and shabby

At the hearing in Tuba City, Emmett Lefthand, a 70-year-old Vietnam veteran, traveled from Kaibeto, Ariz., to testify about the problems experienced by community members living in 200 NHA houses.

Lefthand, a former council delegate, said that in 1974, the first phase of NHA housing was completed and that "from day 1," problems related to shoddy engineering and construction began appearing.

Residents noted sand seeping in under baseboards, the trim that covers the joint where walls meet the floor. In addition, people reported walls cracking and windows and doors falling off, he said.

It took great effort on their part to get NHA to address the problems, he added, "but the walls are still cracking."

Lefthand said NHA has rebuilt one house three times because the walls keep developing cracks - generally a sign that the foundation is inadequate for local soil or climate conditions.

NHA plans to rebuild the house a fourth time, he said, but this time in a slightly different location.

Lefthand said the problem in newer houses is heat. These houses have fireplaces, but they don't work properly. Families in these houses must use space heaters to keep warm, he said.

The residents have asked to install wood or pellet stoves in their fireplaces, he said, but NHA won't allow it.

Lefthand's statements prompted a similar account from an onlooker at the hearing. Navajo Transit Service Director Lee Bigwater, who was there for the regular committee meeting held just before the housing hearing, said he had a friend who reported similar problems in a NHA house in Nazlini, Ariz.

Bigwater said his friend also complained that the fireplace did not do a good job of providing heat, and wished he could install a wood stove.

Slow on repairs

Lefthand also recounted his nephew's experience when the man rebuilt a portion of his house that was damaged by fire. The nephew had asked NHA to repair the damage, but when it failed to act, he collected donations from the community and undertook the repairs himself, Lefthand said.

This violated the NHA policy against residents building additions, triggering an eviction notice to his nephew, Lefthand said.

Adding to the irony, the nephew works for NHA as a maintenance man.

Lefthand also said five Kaibeto families, including himself, have been trying - unsuccessfully - for several months to have NHA replace their water heaters, which aren't working.

He emphasized that the families include school-age children.

Lefthand said he is working with chapter officials, including former Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye, to gather signatures on petitions seeking a share of federal stimulus money to help them with their housing needs, Lefthand said.

They also want the council to investigate increases in rent and house payments, the problem that led to the Church Rock evictions.

In these hard economic times, NHA should work with residents who lose their jobs, instead of just tossing them and their children out when they can no longer make their housing payments, Lefthand said.

Army veteran Lewrence Zahne of Coalmine Mesa testified about a different type of housing problem - he's still waiting for the house that was promised by NHA 16 years ago.

Zahe, a former resident of the Bennett Freeze area, said he doesn't know if the other 24 veterans that were given the same promise are still waiting.

He also can't remember the original cost of the house but he does remember that he paid 10 percent of that cost to NHA. He noted that he's had to supply additional copies of his paperwork numerous times because it got "lost" in NHA's files.

"I just want to know why it's taking so long," he said. "Once I identify a person to work with they leave or they answer the phone."

NHA originally gave federal housing money for veterans to the Department of Navajo Veterans Affairs, but took it back when the veterans office failed to use it, said Cheron Watchman, NHA director of government and public relations, who was at Tuesday's housing hearing.

Watchman said the veterans' office didn't have the capacity to administer the housing program or the large amount of federal grant money that came with it.

Looking at Zahe, she said she had called the NHA main office in Window Rock about his situation and Zahe "is now high on the priority list."

Zahe looked back at Watchman and said, "'You're on the list.' How much of an answer is that? That doesn't pacify me."

Also present was Judy Begay, director of the NHA Tuba City office, who said the bidding process for Zahe's house and others in the area will be finished next week, which means that construction should begin very soon.

Zahe said he appreciated Begay's efforts, but noted that he was told a year ago by her predecessor that the bidding had started.

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