Reservation Subdivision Takes ‘Urban’ Out Of Hud Coeur D’Alenes Building Roomy, Rural Neighborhood

They provide decent shelter for people who might otherwise live in shacks.

But Indian reservation houses built with federal Housing and Urban Development money are anything but the split-level, picket-fenced American dream. HUD houses have a clustered, cookie-cutter look. They’re usually painted in the same tan, gold or brown.

“Some people refer to these as rural ghettos,” said Gino White, director of the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Housing Authority. “They’re too close together. I always say nobody likes changing your neighbor’s television with your remote control.”

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe is building a low-income subdivision that will break the HUD house mold.

Good economic times on the reservation make the experimental approach possible. The same prosperity is drawing families back to the reservation, creating a need for the housing.

“It’s been a dream of ours to entice our people to come back home,” tribal chairman Ernie Stensgar said.

Finding jobs and homes for those people, he added, “is a stress, but it’s a good stress.”

Construction of the new housing development began this month on the west side of Worley. There will be 33 houses, featuring 13 designs. Fourteen rental homes are being built in a wheat field.

What’s really different are the 19 lease-to-own houses. Tucked among the pines on a wooded hillside, they’ll be on 1-acre lots - leaving no chance of changing a neighbor’s TV channels.

“You have something else that’s kind of foreign to HUD, too,” White said as he pointed to the rolling landscape beyond the home sites. “And that’s a view.”

The lease-to-own program, called Mutual Help, allows low-income families to buy the house after 25 years. In the meantime, they pay for upkeep.

The people who will live on the Worley hillside are not only picking the colors of carpet, but making design decisions as well. Will there be one large bathroom or two smaller ones? How about a glass sliding door off the kitchen?

Having that kind of input will personalize the houses and give residents a sense of ownership, White believes.

He especially likes the unfinished, walk-out basements that will allow for guests and expansion of living space. That’s especially important to close-knit and expansive Native American families.

The new approach to tribal housing is made possible by a relaxation of HUD’s housing rules, which White said were written for big cities and never fit reservation culture.

Another vital part of the $4 million project is a tribal contribution of $260,000, made possible by profits from its casino.

Without that, White said, it would have been impossible to build on the hillside because a new, 150,000-gallon water tank was necessary to supply water there.

The city of Worley will have better fire protection as a result, White said.

The need for housing is especially keen now.

The waiting list of about 100 families is growing quickly, White said, because so many people are returning to the reservation.

The success of the casino and other tribal enterprises is bringing back many families that left decades ago in search of work.

Between 300 and 500 people live in subsidized housing on the reservation, White said.

The Tribal Housing Authority manages 204 houses and apartments, 21 of which are on the Kootenai Tribe’s reservation in Boundary County. Seventy-two units are rentals, and 16 of those are reserved for elders.

Rent and lease payments are based on income and family size. To qualify for a subsidized home, people must not make more than the 80 percent of the prevailing median income. In Kootenai County, where Worley is located, that’s $32,950 annually for a family of four.

Many families make far less. The minimum income needed to qualify for a lease-to-own home is $8,000. For them, the monthly payment would be $48. The payments rise with income and would eventually match the mortgage payment on any $100,000 home, White said.

Renters don’t have any income requirements.

No one loses their subsidized home because they start making more money, White said. Some do move on to private housing, but that’s in short supply, he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo