Advocates in the Southwest seek to address housing shortage
Growing interest in market-rate housing options
Christopher Billey, executive director of the Tribal Homeownership Coalition of the Southwest, sees a “missing link” between potential homebuyers and homeowners on reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.
With long waitlists for most tribal-run housing options, Billey said, there are opportunities to provide housing and financial resources to tribal members using methods popular off the reservation. His organization surveyed more than 300 tribal members across the two southwestern states over the past two years. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed, Billey said, want to purchase a home in their tribal communities.
He also observed growing demand for housing at fair-market rates among Indigenous working professionals, and there’s a supply of tribal housing stock — about 10% — that he said belongs to individuals or families.
Billey told Source NM’s Patrick Lohmann the potential for opening up market-rate housing on tribal lands presents a “double-edged sword.” Sales of Native-owned homes could be subject to the booms, busts and speculation that characterize the U.S. private sector housing market. But Billey said there’s also room for designing tribal housing markets that reflect the community’s values as the burgeoning movement gains speed.
Source Material:
- 1.Private sales among Indigenous homeowners could reduce tribal housing shortage, advocate says. Source New Mexico, .
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