Letters: Accepting donations for Manuelito Children’s Home

Ya’at’eeh, my name is Joseph Roan. My clans are Tódích’íi’nii (Bitter Water), Tábąąhá (Water’s Edge), Dibéłzhíní (Black Sheep), and Tsi’naajinii (Black Streak Wood People).

I am Tobe Turpen Elementary School’s Warrior. I want to announce that I will be raising money for the Manuelito Navajo Children’s Home in Gallup.

I will be fundraising for the older children because they are sometimes forgotten. The proceeds will go towards underwear and socks first and then towards other basic needs like toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and food.

I will be accepting donations until the end of August. As a Tobe Turpen Warrior, I greatly appreciate your support and donations to help the children of the Navajo Nation in need.

For donations, please contact Tanya at 928-206-8214. Thank you.

Joseph Roan
Manuelito, N.M.

Navajo office of motor vehicles needed

I appreciate you publishing my letter last week (“I offer space or a new jail”).

The Navajo Times is an important institution that is crucial to our tribal nation. My letter was to offer assistance to the Navajo Police, because I appreciate them deeply as an individual and as a business owner.

I often tell people off the reservation that there are more cops in most small towns than there are on the entire Navajo Nation. On Navajo there is only one law enforcement entity and that is Navajo Police.

No sheriffs to speak of, federal agents are stretched thin, very limited state involvement. This is part of the reason I have pushed for the formation of the Navajo office of motor vehicles, which is actually codified in the tribal code.

Currently, we have several different rules for registering vehicles and I pushed to establish one tribal entity that registered vehicles and sends all proceeds to Window Rock, rather than just simply allowing the states to collect all the revenue.

The largest loser in my proposed project was the state of New Mexico, which is illegally collecting millions of dollars from Navajos by taxing personal property on Indian lands.

So when I met with former Gov. Bill Richardson and asked his position, along with former New Mexico state senators Pinto and Tsosie, he simply asked how much money we are talking about and I said $10 million.

He asked, “Why are you doing this, Mr. Redd?” Vice President Dayish responded, “Because he knows how to do it”.

He said, “You know Redd, $10 million to the state of New Mexico is not a lot of money, to the Navajo Nation it is, but you know what is the biggest problem on Navajo? The Navajos will not let you do it.”

New Mexico agreed to drop any claims to the revenue.

I want public safety in Shiprock and the Northern Agency. We are not subjects or wards of the tribal government. It is our government and all rights are reserved to the people. We are not beholden to the government, the government is beholden to us.

This past week and its floods have emphasized the importance of the government providing its core responsibilities — safety, sanitation and roads.

Shawn Redd
Winslow, Ariz.

The funding formula for housing

When reading the Navajo Times, I immediately go to the opinion section before reading the news. I wondered what the acronym ARPA was on the cover page of Navajo Times dated Thursday, July 23, 2021. So, I read the article titled “Nez: ARPA is once in a lifetime opportunity” after reading other news.

What caught my attention was the following statement made by Delegate Vince James, “I think it’s time we go back to Congress and tell them not to overfund NHA.” Why would one want to decrease funding to Navajo Housing Authority?

The funding NHA receives is based upon a formula, which is defined below:

What is IHBG formula? Funds appropriated by Congress for the Indian Housing Block Grant Program are made available to eligible grant recipients through a formula. Regulations governing the formula can be found at 24 CFR Part 1000, Subpart D. On November 22, 2016, the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Final Rule was published revising the IHBG formula.

In brief, the formula has four components: need, formula current assisted stock, 1996 minimum, and undisbursed IHBG funds factor.

The need component considers population, income, and housing conditions. The formula current assisted stock component reflects housing developed under the U.S. Housing Act (the predecessor of the IHBG program), which is owned and/or operated by the IHBG recipient and provides funds for ongoing operation of the housing.

The 1996 minimum provides adjustments when a tribe is allocated more or less funding under the IHBG formula than it received in FY 1996 for operating subsidy and modernization.

The undisbursed IHBG funds factor provides adjustments for tribes with an initial allocation of $5 million or more and has undisbursed IHBG funds in an amount greater than the sum of the prior three years’ initial allocation calculations.

A tribe may challenge the need portion of the IHBG formula provided the data are gathered, evaluated, and presented in a manner that is fair and equitable for all participating tribes. Tribes have until March 30 of each year to submit challenges to their needs data in consideration for the upcoming fiscal year. Guidelines for submitting Census challenges are available below.

HUD has until June 1 of each fiscal year to report to recipients their annual IHBG estimated allocation and the data used to compute the estimated allocation. The formula response form is designated by 24 CFR 1000.302 as the form recipients use to report data changes to HUD. It is the recipients’ responsibility to report any discrepancies or changes in their IHBG data to HUD.

Tribes have until Aug. 1st of each year to submit corrections to formula current assisted stock, formula area, population cap and overlapping formula area data in consideration for the upcoming fiscal year. In accordance with Section 1000.315 the FRF is the only mechanism that a recipient shall use to report changes to the number of FCAS.

Below is the first paragraph of the letter dated May 28, 2021, to the tribal leaders from Heidi J. Frechette, deputy assistant secretary for Native American Programs.

“Dear Tribal Leader: I am writing to provide important information on your tribe’s Indian Housing Block Grant formula allocation estimate for Fiscal Year 2022. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is regulatorily required to provide this information annually to all IHBG eligible tribes and their tribally designated housing entities. In the past, HUD would mail this information. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, HUD is posting the following information online at: https://ihbgformula.com/fy2022/:”

Google HUD-4117 FY 2020 formula response form and download it or scan it for addition information on the formula.

I wonder how many tribal leaders read the annual and five-year plans that NHA submits to HUD. How many communities’ leaders withdraw land for housing?

I doubt it is within NHA’s purview to withdraw land for houses. I hope this information helps.

Nancy Todea
Shiprock, N.M.

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