Indian Housing Block Grant Formula Training for the Great Lakes Indian Housing Association (GLIHA)
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Indian Housing Block Grant Formula Training for the Great Lakes Indian Housing Association (GLIHA)

Kevin Klingbeil of Big Water Consulting provided HUD-funded training and technical assistance to the members Great Lakes Indian Housing Association at their quarterly meeting in Red Wing, MN addressing the mechanics of the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) formula.  The presentation was entitled “A Peek Behind the Funding Curtain: The Mechanics of the IHBG Formula.” This training covered formula basics, data source considerations and requirements for challenging the data supporting certain elements of the formula. The audience included housing program directors and staff members as well as agency staff members and other professionals serving and supporting tribal housing programs in the Great Lakes region.

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[ Big Water Talk ] NAIHC-Sponsored National Housing Needs Assessment and Effective Community Engagement Webinar
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[ Big Water Talk ] NAIHC-Sponsored National Housing Needs Assessment and Effective Community Engagement Webinar

Last month, in partnership with Katie Symons and Suenary Philavanh of Beaux Simone Consulting, Kevin Klingbeil of Big Water Consulting conducted a webinar on behalf of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Native American Programs and the Native American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC) on Housing Needs Assessment and Effective Community Engagement. The audience included staff members from a variety of different tribes, regions, and programs interested in learning best practices and strategies for engaging community members as well as the primary components of conducting housing and community needs assessments.

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[ Big Water Talk ] Native Homeownership Cohort Needs Assessment Webinar
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[ Big Water Talk ] Native Homeownership Cohort Needs Assessment Webinar

On behalf of Big Water Consulting, Kevin Klingbeil presented a webinar to the Enterprise Native Homeownership Learning Communities Cohort about what their Designated Housing Entities, Tribal Housing Authorities, and Native Community Development Finance Institutions can do to prepare for a housing needs assessment during the current pandemic, and what they can do with collected housing needs assessment data.

Click here to download a PDF of the slides presented by Big Water Consulting.

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[ Conference ] NAIHC Legislative Conference
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[ Conference ] NAIHC Legislative Conference

Kevin Klingbeil participated in the NAIHC Legislative Conference in Washington, DC in order to address data-related tribal issues and directly assist tribal housing staff in their efforts to convey their concerns to elected officials and agency staff regarding recognition of tribally collected data by federal programs and static tribal housing funding levels as well as present ideas to improve the deployment of federal grants and housing loans in Indian Country. Kevin accompanied housing authority staff and representatives of the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition (SDNHC) to Congressional offices and met with senior staff from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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[ Inquiry ] Pa’upena CDC Community Needs Assessment
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[ Inquiry ] Pa’upena CDC Community Needs Assessment

During the course of its 2-day consultation session with representatives from Pa’upena CDC and other homestead organizations, staff members Harry Maher and Kevin Klingbeil visited the majestic and remote Kahikinui homestead as well as the more urban Pakupalo and Lahaina homestead areas. Session participants discussed Pa’upena CDC’s recent receipt of its Right of Entry (ROE) for 127 acres of Hawaiian homelands and its authorization to engage in community design that could lead to a subsequent ROE for an additional 5,000 acres as well as an array of historical, legal, regulatory and other issues that have limited the number of native Hawaiians who have received leases to occupy Hawaiian homelands.

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[ Report ] NAIHC/HUD Crime Prevention Summit
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[ Report ] NAIHC/HUD Crime Prevention Summit

In an effort to complement the community engagement, housing managing and law enforcement efforts described by other presenters at the HUD/NAIHC Crime Prevention Summit in Denver, Big Water presented an array of data collection techniques and data storage and sharing tools that could enable tribes and tribal programs to better coordinate with other tribal and non-tribal agencies, mobilize their communities to gather critical information, better target the use of limited law enforcement resources, and integrate available data to allow for identification of critical patterns and timelines concerning issues such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, gang activity and methamphetamine use in tribal housing units.  

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[ Inquiry ] Launch of Assessment of Housing Needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in Washington State at NWIHA and ATNI Meetings
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[ Inquiry ] Launch of Assessment of Housing Needs of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians in Washington State at NWIHA and ATNI Meetings

In cooperation with its partner on the project, Akana Big Water presented to the members of the Northwest Indian Housing Association (NWIHA) at the Skagit Casino Resort in Bow, Washington and the Housing Committee of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) in Portland, Oregon to launch the Assessment of the Housing Needs of Native Americans in Washington State funded by the Washington State Department of Commerce’s Community Services and Housing Division.  The final report for this project will in part address state, federal, local and industry investments in rental and homeowner housing for Native Americans and provide policy recommendations to support the development of sufficient and safe housing for Native Americans on and outside of tribal areas and address other systemic barriers that prevent or impede access to safe and sufficient housing by Native Americans.

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[ Inquiry ] White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment Launched
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[ Inquiry ] White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment Launched

Two weeks ago, we helped train the survey manager and field staff for the White Mountain Apache Housing Needs Assessment project which is being conducted within the boundaries of the Fort Apache Reservation extending north from the Salt River Canyon in the mountains of eastern Arizona. In addition to the training sessions, we held community meetings in the reservation's more remote Cibecue and McNary communities to learn more about their respective living conditions and needs. We also conducted a focus group with reservation residents who are experiencing homelessness or are doubled-up (staying with others with no permanent residence of their own) to identify the nature and sources of their particular issues as well as ways in which the Tribe or its programs could support their efforts to overcome their current challenges and create more stability in their lives. Despite a winter snowstorm that knocked out power to much of the reservation (and allowed us to conduct training without lights for the first time), trainees and community members braved the elements in order to keep the project on schedule.

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[ Report ] South Dakota Tribal Veterans Homeownership Study Reports Available Online
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[ Report ] South Dakota Tribal Veterans Homeownership Study Reports Available Online

Big Water Consulting partnered with the Cheyenne River Housing Authority, Oglala Sioux (Lakota) Housing and Sissteon Wahpeton Housing Authority as well as the Tribal Veterans Service Officers (TVSOs) for these three reservations to conduct a survey and a focus group with tribal veterans in each area. The purpose of this project was to determine evaluate veterans' housing needs, their interest in and qualification for homeownership, and opportunities to better serve those who served their country. We were honored to participate this project and would like to thank all of the contributors to this inaugural effort, including the tribal housing entities, the TVSOs, South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition (SDNHC), Lakota Funds and Enterprise Community Partners.

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[ Report ] Presentation of SISC King County AIAN Housing Needs Study to ATNI Housing Committee
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[ Report ] Presentation of SISC King County AIAN Housing Needs Study to ATNI Housing Committee

Kevin Klingbeil presented the results and key findings of the SISC King County American Indian and Alaska Native Housing Needs Study to the Housing Committee of ATNI. Discussion addressed the specific needs of Native students in Seattle, efforts to develop new housing for Native families and other subpopulations of the Native community in King County, and disparities between the income levels of Native households and the median household income for King County as well as the wide gap between the rising cost of housing in this area and what Native families can actually afford.  

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[ Inquiry ] "Tohono O’odham Census Challenge Prevents Loss of Millions in Housing Funding"
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[ Inquiry ] "Tohono O’odham Census Challenge Prevents Loss of Millions in Housing Funding"

Big Water is proud to have been part of this historic project in which local tribal field staff mapped and assessed the condition of all housing units within the Nation's lands, gathered vital demographic and needs-based data from a sample of the Nation's households, and ultimately prevented the loss of millions of dollars of critical housing funding over the next five years.

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[ Big Water Talk ] United Native American Housing Association Meth Summit
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[ Big Water Talk ] United Native American Housing Association Meth Summit

Kevin Klingbeil presented the results of a Meth Testing and Remediation Survey to staff of tribal housing entities in the Northern Plains and representatives of the HUD Office of Native American Programs. The survey was designed and implemented by Big Water and completed by 23 of the 32 UNAHA members. Data collected in the survey served as a catalyst for discussion of the various challenges faced by tribal housing entities in their efforts to identify and appropriately respond to to the use of methamphetamine in their units.

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