Native Americans in tribal areas have some of the most urgent affordable housing needs nationwide. In total, 57 percent of Native American households in tribal areas are burdened by the cost of housing, or live in housing with poor conditions or overcrowding. Housing on tribal land is 4 times more likely to have plumbing or kitchen appliance deficiencies and 120 times more likely to have heating deficiencies compared to housing elsewhere. Additionally, sixteen percent of households in tribal areas live in crowded conditions, compared to two percent nationwide.

While the one in five Native Americans living in tribal areas have lower incomes than Native Americans living in urban areas, nationwide Native Americans have twice the overall poverty rate (21 percent compared to 11 percent nationwide), and a median household income of just $61,000, compared to nearly $78,000 for the overall population. As a result of lower incomes and the shortage of affordable housing, 24.5 percent of Native American renters spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent, leaving little leftover for other necessities.

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) is a key solution to help address the vast and growing need for affordable homes for our nation’s indigenous people. Since 1986, the Housing Credit has served as our country’s primary tool to finance the production and preservation of affordable housing, resulting in nearly 3.85 million affordable homes. The Affordable Housing Credit Act, broadly supported, bipartisan legislation to expand and strengthen the Housing Credit, would provide over 2 million more affordable homes nationwide, helping us to ensure all Native Americans have access to safe, stable and affordable housing.

Hear from Native Americans who live in Housing Credit properties, see support from members of Congress, and explore examples of affordable housing for Native Americans across the country below.

of American Indian or Alaska Native households are extremely low-income renters, compared to 6% of white renters (Source: NLIHC)

of on-reservation housing is considered substandard, compared to 6% outside of Indian Country (Source: NCAI)

affordable homes are needed per year to address the housing deficits in Indian Country (Source: HUD)

In Minnesota – where 2.4 percent of the population is Native American, yet Native Americans represent 22 percent of all homeless youth – Mino Oski Ain Dah Yung (“Good New Home” in Ojibwe) provides 42 homes and supportive services to formerly homeless Native American youth between the ages of 18 and 24. It is a first-of-its-kind project that fosters a place of healing and resources to establish self-determination for residents as young Native people.

Mino Oski Ain Dah Yung won a 2020 Charles L. Edson Tax Credit Excellence Award in the Housing for Other Special Needs Populations Category. Read more about Mino Oski Ain Dah Yung here, and see recognition from members of Congress in Minnesota below.

Special thanks to Travois for consultation on this webpage.