After decades of waiting, 11 Bodaway-Gap families get new homes
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Tommy Smith, left, is greeted by former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez during a homeownership handover at the Bodaway-Gap Chapter House in Bodaway-Gap, Ariz., on Jan. 17, 2026.
By Donovan Quintero
Special to the Times
BODAWAY-GAP, Ariz. – Tommy Smith leaned forward at a long table inside the Bodaway-Gap Chapter House, gripping a thin sheet of paper with weathered hands as he read through final documents that confirmed what had once felt out of reach: a home of his own.
Smith, wearing a camouflage cap pulled low over his disheveled gray hair and a dark jacket zipped against the winter chill, was one of 11 Bodaway-Gap Chapter community members who received keys Saturday to newly placed modular homes purchased with American Rescue Plan Act funds through the Navajo Nation Fiscal Recovery Fund Housing Assistance Project.
For Smith and his wife, Judy Yazzie, the moment marked the end of a decades-long struggle for stable housing.
To read the full article, please see the Jan. 22, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
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