HUD asks NHA to return $96M for failure to spend funds

By Alastair Lee Bitsoi
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK, July 10, 2014

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is requesting the Navajo Housing Authority return $96 million for its failure to comply with the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act if it doesn't file a hearing with the federal agency within 30 days.

In a July 8 letter to Council Delegate Katherine Benally, chairwoman for the Resources and Development Committee, NHA CEO Aneva Yazzie stated NHA, the tribe's designated housing entity, received notice from HUD on June 27 about being noncompliant with 10 program activities during its 2012 Indian Housing Block Grant.

"The NHA has 30 days to request an administrative hearing to review HUD's notice," Yazzie wrote to Benally. "The NHA will be filing its request for an administrative hearing."

On Tuesday, the RDC heard an update from Yazzie about NHA. The committee passed her report by a 3-2 vote.

During this year, NHA received $102.8 million, but funds weren't spent, stated Sandra Henriquez, assistant secretary for HUD, in the June 27 letter to Yazzie.

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