Native American Issues: Preliminary Observations on Housing and Homelessness

Filed 1h ago · Via GAO · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

March of the Spoons

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

The Government Accountability Office testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs that 30 federal programs, including the Indian Housing Block Grant, offer housing support to Native American and Native Hawaiian communities, but funding has not kept pace with construction costs. Tribes told GAO they spend most of that money maintaining existing housing rather than building new stock.

GAO's preliminary work also found that 'doubling up,' temporarily staying with others, is widespread but often doesn't count as homelessness under HUD's Continuum of Care program definitions, which tribes say makes them less competitive for the agency's largest homelessness funding stream. The testimony is based on interviews with a small, non-generalizable sample of a dozen-plus tribes and organizations.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Thirty programs sounds like a lot until you realize it just means thirty different doors to knock on, each with its own paperwork and its own excuse. A government that can build that many acronyms for a problem ought to be able to build a few more houses. The real scandal here isn't hidden, it's printed right in the report: the money doesn't match the need, and everybody in the room already knew that going in.

Source: Read the original at GAO → Scored: March of the Spoons · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID

OR FOLLOW THE DESK ON BLUESKY →