Shoddy work, bad neighbors top NHA gripes

The Navajo Housing Authority needs to builds communities, not just houses.

Roberto Nutlouis, 29, made that recommendation to the Government Services Committee during a public hearing on housing held here earlier this month, summarizing the feeling of many in attendance.

Nutlouis, the program manager for Indigenous Community Enterprises of Flagstaff, noted that it's time for NHA to evolve from housing construction into building healthy communities.

(ICE is a nonprofit organization that provides housing to low-income individuals, especially elders, on the reservation. It uses a combination of federal housing grants from NHA, the Navajo Partnership for Housing, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to finance the construction.)

Most of the 30 people making comments at the meeting focused on problems with poor construction and design, and toxic social dynamics within NHA subdivisions that cause problems for the surrounding communities.

Rose Ann Whitehat, 61, who lives in a NHA housing project in Leupp, Ariz., testified that the windows in her home keep falling out.

Aside from shabby construction, design flaws that make it hard to heat NHA houses also are a problem, the committee was told.

Delegate Jerry Freddie (Dilkon/Teesto) noted that residents in one NHA subdivision have incurred the community's wrath by excessive tree-cutting, which Nutlouis said probably was linked to their efforts to keep warm in houses that were built with little regard to energy efficiency.

Nutlouis said NHA should make energy efficiency a priority, a point underscored by Freddie, who said NHA houses should include solar panels, water-efficient toilets and a sewage system that is regularly maintained.

Following the hearing, NHA Chief Executive Officer Aneva Yazzie said in a press release that her agency is "revamping its floor plan designs to incorporate green and energy efficiencies and site layout design to allow more private space for homeowners and renters and not replicate the typical subdivision layout."

Yazzie also said problems with poor construction have been addressed by tightening up its oversight and changing to a contract-based construction "with strengthened internal controls from pre-development planning aspects to procurement management and to construction contract management.

"The phase-out of the force account program also addresses the warranty deficiencies of the former set up of the warranty department as well," she emphasized. "All warranty work is now the responsibility of the construction contractor which NHA intends to enforce through stringent contract term requirements."

Break with tradition

The subdivisions created by NHA's embrace of suburban-style development represent a marked break from traditional Navajo living arrangements, in which everyone in a community was linked by family and shared a lifelong knowledge of each other.

NHA subdivisions, by contrast, often are "bedroom communities" in which neighbors are strangers and most of the adults are away at work from dawn to nightfall.

The weak social connections and absence of adult supervision give rise to a range of problems that affect life within NHA housing and in the surrounding community, according to many tribal members.

Freddie and Dilkon Community School Principal Tommy Lewis Sr. both testified about the increasing amount of gang activity, alcohol and drug use, and domestic violence occurring at NHA clustered housing.

Lewis strongly recommended that NHA switch its focus to scattered-site housing, especially since that follows Navajo tradition.

In the Navajo way, when a man and woman marry, the couple would build their home near the woman's family. Lewis said NHA's construction of such homes would be a positive investment because it would keep families together.

Freddie agreed and said that most NHA tenants are single heads of households who have no ties to the community, which contributes to the rising problem in housing projects with gangs and alcohol and drug abuse.

Lewis also suggested that NHA include recreational facilities such as a basketball court and playground when it builds housing, giving the children and youth a positive outlet for their energy.

He said a local church group built a basketball court across the road from the NHA housing in Dilkon and now the kids from the housing area "risk life and limb crossing the busy road to play basketball."

Yazzie said NHA is addressing the "social effects brought about in a subdivision environment that spur gangs and vandalism" through "sustained funding" for the Navajo Nation Boys and Girls Club, which has the ability to create a central community point that redirects idle young people towards sports and education-related activities.

Yazzie said NHA also is supporting national legislation to reinstate the Drug Elimination Program, which could supplement crime prevention dollars eligible under the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act.

Adult delinquency too

Steven Kee, White Cone Chapter coordinator, said his community asked him to testify about other problems related to NHA housing, problems that cannot be blamed on the kids.

He said his community has a problem with NHA tenants dumping their trash in remote areas - generally the land of more rural residents - and letting their dogs run around loose.

Kee's comment about the loose dogs brought a wave of agreement from the roomful of people, who nodded their heads as they said, "Ayoo' (yes)."

Tribal animal control officials say much of the problem with attacks on livestock is rooted in NHA housing, where too many residents ignore the rule to keep their dogs confined. Instead the dogs gather in packs and make regular forays into the surrounding countryside, doing serious damage to sheep, cattle and horses.

The need to better assist specific groups of people, such as veterans, seniors and police officers, also came up in several comments.

Freddie buttonholed two members of the Government Services Committee who sit on the NHA board of directors, Chairman Ervin Keeswood (Tsé Daa K'aan) and Vice Chairman Leonard Teller (Lukachukai/Tsaile/Wheatfields).

He asked if NHA could obtain funding to build a small community housing complex for senior citizens and, looking squarely at the two men, said, "We need to allocate land for adequate housing."

Teller chairs the NHA board and Keeswood is a board member.

The Government Services Committee is NHA's oversight committee and selects NHA board members.

Lt. Clinton Smith of the Tuba City Police District testified about the need to provide housing for police officers. Smith said many officers commute hundreds of miles to their workstations.

Two officers assigned to Dilkon commute from Flagstaff, a distance of about 75 miles each way, he said.

And for the past four years, Smith himself has been commuting to Tuba City from Leupp, a distance of about 110 miles each way.

Smith said that in one area, the lack of housing has forced five officers to share a house. He noted that the tribal police department loses many of its officers to other law enforcement agencies because they provide "better pay, benefits and housing."

NHA has made some effort towards housing police officers in the districts where they serve. Yazzie said under a memorandum of agreement with the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, vacant NHA houses can be rented by police officers for $1 a year.

She noted that in return, the officers agree to help educate NHA tenants about crime prevention and drug and alcohol abuse.      Yazzie said officers are also expected to provided police services but only when they are on duty.

In addition, she said a federal law was recently passed for tribes and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to work on policies regarding law enforcement and housing.

The Dilkon hearing was one in a series held by the Government Services Committee. Other housing hearings have been held at Chinle, Tsé Daa K'aan, Kayenta, Huerfano, Ganado and Tuba City.

The committee may hold a final hearing in Crownpoint in March before compiling all the recorded comments for publication in a report.

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