The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $63 million to 85 Native American communities throughout the country to improve housing conditions and stimulate community development for residents, including funding construction projects that generate local job opportunities. 

In Oklahoma, 17 tribes shared $13,116,063 of the funding. 

 “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.”

The ICDBG Program was established in 1977 to help Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages meet their community development needs. Federally recognized Indian tribes, bands, groups or nations (including Alaska Indian, Aleuts, and Eskimos), Alaska Native villages, and eligible tribal organizations compete for this funding each year.

The goal of the program is to develop viable Indian and Alaska Native communities, including neighborhoods with decent housing, suitable living environments, and economic opportunities. Communities can use the grants to rehabilitate or build new housing; to buy land for housing; for infrastructure projects such as roads, water and sewer facilities; and to spur economic development including jobs.

The ICDBG Program supports a range of activities including:

  • Housing rehabilitation and land acquisition to support new housing construction, and under limited circumstances, new housing construction.
  • Infrastructure construction – roads, water and sewer facilities, and single- or multi-purpose community buildings.
  • Wide variety of commercial, industrial, agricultural projects, which may be privately owned or which may be owned and/or operated by a third party.

Fiscal Year 2018 Grantees:

$800,000        Absentee-Shawnee Tribe, Shawnee

$800,000        Cherokee Nation, Tahlequah

$800,000        Chickasaw Nation, Ada

$800,000        Choctaw Nation, Durant

$800,000        Comanche Nation Housing Authority, Lawton

$800,000        Fort Sill Apache Tribe, Apache

$800,000        Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma Housing Authority, McLoud

$800,000        Miami Tribe, Miami

$800,000        Modoc Tribe, Miami

$800,000        Muscogee Creek Nation, Okmulgee

$800,000        Otoe-Missouria Tribe, Red Rock

$800,000        Pawnee Nation, Pawnee

$800,000        Peoria Nation, Miami

$800,000        Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma, Quapaw

$800,000        Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, Ponca City

$716,063        Tonkawa Tribe, Tonkawa

$400,000        Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes, Concho