MSHDA Tribal Relations
[TRANSCRIPT] All across our Indian lands, housing is number one, number two, right up there. And to have the dedication for tribal council, tribal planners, tribal housing leaders; just community members. It is so important that you have this year.
Tax credit projects are extremely hard. And to be able to roll up the sleeves, do the hard work, and figure out how to get those points is tremendous for not only rural communities but for Native American communities.
And so I applaud MSHDA for reaching out to tribes and hopefully this is a start, not just here, but for the other bands across the area. So thank you guys very much.
We have had a lot of conversations internally and with leadership of the tribes in the state of Michigan about how we can increase their housing stock.
We are looking line by line in all of our programs to make sure that we're not putting up any barriers that make it more and more difficult for the tribes to access those dollars.
We intentionally wrote these rules for tribal communities, for public housing authorities, and for other areas of the state that don't have development capacity. What we're trying to do is make sure that we develop that capacity that stays long term in those communities.
Nicki's department is trying to have that capacity in-house to be able to do this housing over and over again. And we want to support that.
We do have another LIHTC Project II approved already and in the works for another 36 units, including a community center and office building.
Next goals are permanent supportive housing for those who are homeless, help my veterans, those in need.
It has really open up a great conversation with MSHDA and tribal communities and how we can work together and has been moving forward.
We would not have been able to do this project without MSHDA’s involvement.