US Secretary of HUD, Catawba Chief met Tuesday in SC. This is what they talked about.
When Marcia Fudge visited the Catawba Indian reservation in Rock Hill, S.C., Tuesday, part of her visit included a one-on-one meeting with Chief William “Bill” Harris.
Fudge, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Harris discussed housing -- the need to make it affordable, the need for senior housing, and how big the problem is across America.
As South Carolina’s only federally recognized tribe, the Catawba Indian Nation is an independent government. Harris has been chief since 2011, making him the leader of a sovereign nation. By tribal policy, he is the only one authorized to speak for the Catawbas.
“The president has said we have to do all we can to participate with tribal leaders,” Fudge said.
She said she wanted to fulfill President Joe Biden’s request to build relationships with tribal leaders.
“These tend to have been communities that have been woefully underfunded and left out of a lot of policy, that I think should have been beneficial,” she told The Herald.
The Catawbas are the first Indian nation Fudge has visited in her official capacity.
This is what they talked about.
Viewing affordable housing
Earlier in the day, Fudge had toured the ISWA housing development. The program covers rental housing with payments on income, emergency housing and a lease-to-own program. The development is funded by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996.
“I think you guys are doing a great job,” she told the chief.
Harris responded: “Our housing program is impressive. When we first entered that agreement with HUD, I think it absolutely opened the door to actually providing the needs of the citizens. And we have actually grown that program.”
Fudge recognized that there is more work to be done.
“Let me be clear,” she said. “Some of it is aging ... But you could tell there was a lot of thought and care into how they were built, and where they were built.”
Help for senior citizens
Another concern they discussed was the need for senior housing, which officials with the ISWA project brought up as a concern. Accessible housing for seniors is one of the tribe’s goals.
And, they currently are working on a new senior center.
“One of the biggest issues this country has today is people aging,” Fudge said. “We need senior housing. And what we’re finding is that crisis groups and homeless people are seniors, the fastest group of people who are displaced because they cannot age in place. So we were talking about doing some senior housing, which is really timely, and hopefully we’ll be able to help.”
Harris agreed.
“If you’ve spent the majority of your life in one area... And now all of a sudden you’re going to have to pick up and move, talk about a displaced person,” he said. “Because everything you knew was there.”
In the case of the Catawbas, it’s important to seniors and families to stay on the reservation and remain with their community.
“You guys are on the right track,” the secretary told him.
The small size of the reservation -- a combined 1,011 acres on two plots of land -- has allowed the tribe to stay focused and plan their projects thoroughly, Harris said.
“If we can expand our land base a little bit more,” he added, “we could add a little bit more housing.”
Fudge said she had discussed the possibility of adding more land to the reservation to accommodate another housing village. “There’s just not enough,” she said.
This applies to the whole country, Harris said.
“To me, there are two great tragedies in America,” he said. “One is people who are hungry, and people who are homeless. We are by far, one of the richest countries in the world. And we cannot feed our own? We cannot house our own?”
Looking forward
Fudge told Harris that the Biden Administration is trying to address this problem.
“We know that Indian and tribal nations have large groups of homelessness. We also know that the numbers (nationwide) have gotten so unwiedly...”
She talked about the House America program, which she announced along with federal officials last week.
The program “calls on state, tribal, and local leaders to partner with HUD to use American Rescue Plan resources, alongside other federal, tribal, state, and local resources,” to help the homeless, through various programs, according to a press release.
Fudge told Harris the program’s goal is to house at least 100,000 of the country’s 580,000 homeless people by its December 31, 2022 deadline. She encouraged Harris to look into the initiative and give his input on how it can be applied to the Catawbas.
A widespread problem
Prior to meeting with Harris, Fudge spoke to The Herald about why the lack of housing is such a problem.
“Not just Native Americans, but Black and brown people generally, and of course low-income people, there just is not enough low-income or affordable housing,” she said.
But so far, the secretary is impressed with what the Catawba Nation has achieved.
“I feel good about what they’re doing,” she said. “I feel that the properties are fairly well-maintained. The price points are something I don’t even see any place else. So I know they are working really hard to ensure that the people are treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve.”
The chief told Fudge that he looked forward to a continued partnership.
“We want this to be not the first visit, but the first of many visits,” Harris said.
