Auditor Says Tribes Abusing Hud Poor Oversight Of Housing Programs, Allegations Of Mismanagement Detailed

The nation’s housing authority does a terrible job of monitoring Indian housing programs, the agency’s auditor told senators Wednesday.

Susan Gaffney, inspector general for the Housing and Urban Development Department, said there are at least 29 cases of misuse of federal funds by tribes, and more are under investigation.

Abuse of HUD programs is much worse on reservations than in other public housing, she told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the Indian Affairs committees.

The special joint hearing was called by Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., after tribal abuses of HUD were detailed in The Seattle Times last December. The abuses show tension between tribal autonomy and proper oversight, Gorton said.

“I hope this doesn’t raise the question of how capable these tribes are of governing,” he said.

Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and president of the National Congress of American Indians, agreed.

“Our duty is to protect tribal sovereignty,” Allen said. “We have so many more successes than failures. We do not condone mismanagement and abuse.”

Much of Wednesday’s testimony centered on a $260,000 federally funded house on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Marysville, Wash. HUD officials said the housing authority’s executive director still lives in the 5,300-square-foot house and owes the government $45,000, but no lien has been put on the house.

Gaffney said HUD inspectors noted the mammoth foundation while it was being built but did not stop construction.

While HUD deregulation played a role in the mismanagement, Gaffney said the abuses were also a result of decreased staffing, poor rent collection and eviction policies, lax enforcement, and conflict of interest problems.

“I disagree with the thought that self-determination means we can’t have accountability,” she said.

Gaffney was especially critical of 1996 legislation that gives the tribes money in block grants. The new law leaves the agency powerless, she said. “If HUD does a review and finds money has been mismanaged, there is nothing we can do about it,” she said.

Many witnesses noted the abuse of HUD funds hurts many needy Native American families.

The Urban Institute reports 40 percent of Native Americans on reservations live in overcrowded or inadequate housing, compared with 6 percent of the U.S. population. HUD spent $4.3 billion for housing and community development in tribal areas between 1986 and 1995, the General Accounting Office reports.

, DataTimes