Spokanes, Kalispels each get $500,000 in HUD block grants

The Spokane and Kalispel tribes will each receive $500,000 in federal funding to improve housing conditions, build roads or fund other community development projects as part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program that awarded $63 million to 85 Native American communities Tuesday.

The program – the Indian Community Development Block Grant Program, or ICDBG – finances projects like housing rehabilitation, land acquisition for housing and helping low- and moderate-income people buy homes. Other area tribal groups that received awards include the Nez Perce Tribe, Yakama Nation Housing Authority and the Salish & Kootenai Housing Authority.

For the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the money will be used to rehabilitate 15 homes in the Martha Boardman neighborhood on the reservation, said Tim Horan, executive director of Spokane Indian Housing Authority.

“We’ll be repairing the roofs. We will be replacing exterior doors and sinks. Kitchen, bath and replumbing,” he said. “We’ll do weatherization on all these. All necessary things like that.”

The money will also be used to improve the neighborhood’s public area and basketball court, which will include adding a shaded gazebo and picnic table “for the families there watching the kids,” Horan said. Another basketball court will have a small amount of stadium seating installed.

Though the tribe has to match the federal funding with about $160,000, Horan said the money allowed the tribe to do projects that may otherwise be out of reach. He said the work would be complete next year.

Requests for comment from the Kalispel tribe were not returned.

The ICDBG program was created in 1977. Federally recognized Indian tribes, bands, groups or nations and other eligible tribal organizations compete for the funding each year.

“HUD is committed to supporting affordable housing and economic opportunities for Native American communities across the country,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “These grants will generate other investments from public and private sources to create economic opportunities, improve housing conditions and create jobs in Indian country.”