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ANCHORAGE, Alaska – New Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations for a popular Indian housing program are designed to “increase lender participation in the Section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee (Section 184) program, strengthen regulations to meet the program’s growing demands, and ensure that the program will remain a vital resource for Native American families looking to become homeowners for years to come,” said HUD in a prepared statement.

“Homeownership is key to building generational wealth. By enhancing the Section 184 program, we are ensuring homeownership and wealth-building opportunities are available to Native American borrowers,” said HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman.

Miki Adams is the president of CBC Mortgage Agency, an investor that is owned by the Cedar Band of Paiutes in Utah. She said in an email, “the new regulations will bring more clarity and predictability to this important program, and we applaud the Administration for the improvements and their efforts to work closely with Tribal leaders and other stakeholders. There is still more that must be done to modernize the program and we look forward to working collaboratively with HUD on future improvements.”

Tanya Krueger, of the Oneida Nation in Wisconsin, is vice president of Bay Bank, which is owned by the Oneida Nation. She told ICT the new regulations will primarily affect lenders. “(They) have to be able to show the capacity to do the loans and then service the loans if there are servicers as well. So there’s new requirements in that standard. HUD is pushing lenders also to have more requirements that they’re responsible (for) and have more strict guidelines and deadlines of when to submit documents. So it’s putting lenders at more constraints than there are now.” Individual tribal members and tribes will not see big changes, she said. READ MORE — Joaquin Estus, ICT

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Dr. Ruth Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills recalls when her grandfather, Gerard Baker,shared with her some seeds – and his dream that they would multiply. “His wish was that there would be gallons and gallons of jars of these seeds so that community people could have access to them, so that they could be gardening with our traditional seeds,” she said.

Plenty Sweetgrass-She Kills is the director of the Food Sovereignty Program at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College in New Town, North Dakota. That moment with her grandfather germinated in her mind and took root in her work at the college. She proposed to expand the program’s Traditional Seed Cache and teamed up with Dr. Claire Friedrichsen to secure $100,000 to launch the project.

Friedrichsen, a research social scientist in the Agricultural Research Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explained to Buffalo’s Fire that stored seeds need to be planted at least every decade as their viability decreases by about 10 percent each year.

The ARS operates the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory (NGPRL), located in the ancestral homeland of the Mandan people on the Heart River near Mandan, North Dakota. It began providing space and resources for the college program in 2023, with funding from USDA’s Office of Tribal Relations. The program is gearing up for a traditional seed distribution at the NHS College Annual Plant Sale on May 23.READ MORE — Buffalo’s Fire

Lawmakers added protections to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people in Alaska last week, a move celebrated by activists who have devoted years to a campaign for equity.

Senate Bill 151 passed with a combined 57-1 vote. Rep. David Eastman, R-Wasilla, was the sole vote against; Sens. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, and Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, were excused from the Senate vote.

Under the new law, the state must employ two full-time, dedicated MMIP investigators to pursue cold cases and must include cultural training in police officer training. It also establishes a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Review Commission and requires that state public safety officials consult with tribes for a statewide needs assessment.

Charlene Aqpik Apok, director of Data for Indigenous Justice, a nonprofit database that tracks missing and murdered Indigenous people in Alaska, remembers when it was hard to get lawmakers to agree to a meeting about the issue of violence against Alaska Native people, let alone influence policy. So when the Alaska Senate passed legislation aimed at doing just that, Apok felt the significance when their 9-year-old son said, “Oh my god, you’re about to pass a law!” READ MORE — Alaska Beacon

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Three Northwest tribes and federal agencies are getting closer to understanding how to revive Chinook and sockeye salmon runs on the upper Columbia River that were once among the most abundant in the world but were decimated by dams over the last century.

Leaders from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Spokane Tribe of Indians met with leaders from three federal agencies and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in Portland on Wednesday to discuss progress on their historic agreement from last September. The 20-year plan, separate from a related deal signed in December, marked the culmination of decades of work by the tribes, who were deprived of salmon following the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam near Spokane in 1938 and Chief Joseph Dam in Bridgeport, Washington in 1955. The fish have historically been central to their way of life.

Both the tribal and federal agency leaders discussed a range of subjects, from acquiring the needed fish from hatcheries and moving them via truck to areas blocked by the dams. The Biden administration said it would allocate $200 million to the effort, but the parties agreed even more money would be needed. Officials and tribes face challenges working with Canadian dams and hatcheries as well as competing interests for the Columbia’s water from hydroelectric and agriculture. READ MORE— Oregon Capital Chronicle Variety to host inaugural Indigenous storytelling in entertainment breakfast

What’s trending on social media:

  • Variety to host inaugural Indigenous storytelling in entertainment breakfast
  • Indigenous tribe sues L.A. County, archdiocese over the ‘desecration’ of more than 100 graves
  • A Native American costume designer for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is suing Apple, saying it denied her proper credit

We want your tips, but we also want your feedback. What should we be covering that we’re not? What are we getting wrong? Please let us know. dalton@ictnews.org.