Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing series by Underscore Native News and ICT examining how systemic affordable housing issues in the Pacific Northwest have undermined Indigenous self-determination and equity.
Owning a home is life changing for families across the country. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit program is often viewed as a tool for affordable rental housing, but across Native country, it’s far more important than that. For many Native nations, it was believed to be a reliable path toward homeownership, community stability, and generational wealth.
The Washington State Housing Finance Commission is meant to deliver the federally mandated eventual tenant ownership component of the program but has consistently minimized the program’s importance.
According to the commission, the process of transferring the actual deeds is underway for 17 of the 25 eligible eventual tenant ownership homes at Spokane Tribal housing.
There are 352 more homes across seven Native nations eligible for ownership as of 2026, some of which reached year 15 as far back as 2018.
The Low-Income Tax Credit program, which assists in the development of low-income rental housing, is a federal program facilitated by the Housing Finance Commission. In 1986, the Tax Reform Act, mandated that all states administering the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program include eventual tenant ownership, which allows the project units to be available for purchase by residents after the 15-year compliance period, as a component of their program.
The commission allocates federal income tax credits to a developer, which in Washington State is Native nations, who then enters into a limited liability partnership with an investor who then gives money to the developer, in exchange for that tax credit. The federal tax credit reduces the amount of income tax the investor owes, reducing it dollar for dollar for the amount invested in building Low Income Housing Tax Credit eventual tenant ownership homes in each nation. This accumulates to millions of dollars in tax credits for the investor over the 15-year period.
Each Native nation’s housing authority manages the daily operations and maintenance of the property, but the investor owns 99.99% of the property until year 15, when the transfer of ownership process should begin.
According to the commission, they have 1,300 Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects, and 18 of them chose the eventual tenant ownership option. Of those 18, 17 of the projects encompass 531 houses across eight separate Native nations that participate in the tax credit program for eventual tenant ownership.
During an interview with Underscore + ICT, Lisa Vatske, director of multi-family housing and community facilities for the commission, insisted that the commission’s programs, like their single-family mortgage down payment assistance division is structured to support home ownership and down payment assistance but the tax credit program may not be the best tool to accomplish homeownership for Native nations.
However, as her colleague, Margret Graham, commission communications manager, pointed out during the same interview, the lack of available homes to purchase on Native land is what makes the tax credit program appealing in Native country. Partnership with investors provides the funding necessary to build the required infrastructure and housing.
Importance of tenant ownership program
According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, infrastructure for sewage, gas, electricity, and highways can be limited on Native lands, especially in more remote regions. As much as 70 percent of Native nation’s governments have identified infrastructure costs as a major barrier to development. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition also cited discriminatory lending practices as a barrier, explaining that, “Many lenders refuse to loan money on Native trust lands, and it is often impossible to locate appraisers who will work on or fairly appraise trust lands.”
So, although Steve Walker, executive director of the commission, and other commission officials have repeated that the tenant ownership program is “a very small program,” others have pointed out the importance of the program for developing housing despite the many barriers.
“It is not a very small program to Indian country,” Gabe Galanda said during the Dec. 4, 2024 public hearing before the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee addressing the audit findings and the tenant purchase options under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.
Galanda, a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes and founder of Indigenous rights law firm Galanda Broadman.
“It must instead be viewed as a significant part of Indian country's housing program in the state of Washington, and not an insignificant part of [Washington State Housing Finance Commission] LIHTC [Low-Income Housing Tax Credit] portfolio,” Galanda continued. “It is the only statewide Indigenous home ownership program to speak of relative to WSHFC [Washington state housing finance commission].”
David Bland, President and CEO of Travois, Inc.—a consulting company hired by Native nations to support them in submitting their applications for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing—from 1995, when the company was formed, until 2016, went a step further, calling the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit eventual tenant ownership program, “the single greatest program ever created by the US government to encourage the development of affordable housing.”
In 2005, Travois was the 99.99% owner and limited partner of Nooksack Housing Limited Partnership #2, which encompasses 24 homes, but withdrew and was replaced by the Native American Housing Fund IV LLC, a Delaware limited liability company owned by Raymond James Tax Credit Funds, Inc. In 2006, Travois was the temporary 99.99% owner and limited partner of Nooksack Housing Limited Partnership #4, which encompasses 15 homes, but withdrew and was again replaced by the Native American Housing Fund V LLC, owned by Raymond James, when that partnership’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing closed in 2016.
After college, Bland worked for several different affordable housing organizations before being recruited to go to work at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank in the ninth Federal Reserve district to assist minority communities in getting access to capital and banking services. The primary minority of the ninth Federal Reserve district were Native peoples. The Ninth Federal Reserve District is the largest of all the Federal Reserve districts spanning Western Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana. In this work with the Reserve Bank, Bland learned about the impediments to access capital for Native nations.
“During my time at the [Federal Reserve], virtually every time I would go out to an Indian Reservation, whether it was in Montana or South Dakota or northern Minnesota, it didn't matter where it was, the tribal officials would say to me, ‘You know, access to capital is important. We need banking services and all that, but we're having a housing crisis. Can the [Federal Reserve] help us with that?,’” Bland told Underscore + ICT.
According to Bland, the one thing the tribes kept saying they needed was housing assistance, something he knew how to do so he left the Federal Reserve and started Travois.
“We were the first to bring the Low Income Housing Tax Credit in any substantive fashion to Indian tribes,” Bland said.
Largely due to biases against Native nations, according to Bland.
“If someone didn't know about the program, the state didn't have any real incentive to make them aware of it,” Bland said. “Many states have a hostile relationship with Indian tribes both culturally and governmentally, so the tribes just didn't know about it and I was flummoxed by that. I just couldn't understand why the single greatest program ever created by the US government to encourage the development of affordable housing was not being used in the one place in the country that had the worst housing conditions… So that was part of my interest to form Travois.”
Bland went on to share his understanding of the rates of unhoused and low-quality housing conditions compared to the rest of the population. He is correct.
Washington state had the third-highest population of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. last year, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 2024 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress. In King County alone, six percent of people experiencing homelessness identify as American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Indigenous but make up less than one percent of the population, according to the 2024 Point-In-Time Count.
According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, which cites a 2017 report from HUD, at least 68,000 housing units are needed across Indian Country. According to a 2023 statement by Tony Walters, executive director of the National American Indian Housing Council, the cost to develop 68,000 units could be $20 billion [per year] on average development costs alone but receive less than a billion a year for housing.
Walters went on to explain that, “tribes are actually operating with less money today than they were in the late ’90s to carry out housing programs. Certainly not enough to meet the need, to meet the demand, to meet just inflation costs and cost of development.”
The 2017 HUD report also details that approximately 543,000 Native American households experience “severe housing needs,” defined as “living in conditions that are overcrowded, substandard, or cost-burdensome.” Eight percent of Native households are considered overcrowded, compared to 3 percent for the nation as a whole. HUD research also revealed that the number of Native households with incomplete plumbing facilities is 10 times greater than the national average, and the number with incomplete kitchen facilities is seven times greater. By 2013, the National American Indian Housing Council estimated that 70 percent of the homes in Indian Country were “in need of upgrades and repairs, many of them extensive.”
This could all be compounded by the 44% cut to HUD’s vital affordable housing, homelessness, and community development programs proposed in President Donald Trump’s recent budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2026. The House and Senate will need to negotiate a final version of the spending bill to be approved by both chambers. This is a budgetary proposal is still being debated.
Cuts to housing support like HUD are actually part of a longer trend—one that exposes deep contradictions, especially among those who claim to champion affordable housing. Galanda believes the audit revealed a hard truth: many elected officials in Washington state, particularly Democrats and self-described progressives, who publicly espouse a commitment to low-income housing and homeownership aren't truly invested in those outcomes. He believes it's become a popular political talking point rather than a policy priority. That became clear to Galanda when, during the audit request process, only Representative Pollett and Representative Stearns signed the letter—no one else in the House or Senate, Democrat or progressive, was willing to stand behind it.
Building generational wealth
Understanding these barriers, Bland shared that Travois has worked to leverage the system to build generational wealth. According to Bland, Travois has contributed to supporting well over a billion dollars in affordable housing for Native nations across the country. Travois is now run by Bland’s daughter, Elizabeth Bland Glynn, chief executive officer and son-in-law, Phil Glynn, President. Eight of the 47 Travois employees are Native.
“We've been able to help tribes attain [homeownership] so we're pretty proud of that,” Bland said.
Bland called the lack of homeownership in the Washington program, “really shocking.”
Even the audit acknowledged that, “Using tenant purchase options can help the tribes preserve affordable housing and increase the overall wealth of tribal members.”
According to the United States Census Bureau 2023 report on poverty, American Indians or Alaska Natives have the highest poverty rate of any demographic in the country at 21.2 percent—triple that of white Americans. Poverty rates are often even higher on reservations compared to other areas, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and on some reservations, unemployment rates are as high as 80%, according to the Ballard Brief.
The tenant ownership option of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program is not only critical in developing homes and addressing increasing overcrowding and homelessness, but also provides an opportunity to build generational wealth for their families. A house is a tangible asset that can be passed down to heirs, and future generations can continue to build up equity and potential future appreciation that would provide them with a significant financial advantage in life. Outside of building long-term wealth, secure housing for families who may have been housing insecure for a lifetime is a lifeline. It impacts positive mental and physical well-being.
Of the 18 projects, 12—with a combined total of 369 homes—had properties old enough to qualify for tenant purchase as of 2026. That is 369 families that can benefit from homeownership. The oldest buildings qualified for tenant purchase in 2018, like Olive Oshiro who was evicted from her home that was eligible for ownership in 2020, on April 1.
The 2024 audit shared that by 2030, approximately 250 homes will become eligible for tenant purchase. Further investigation from Underscore + ICT 454 homes will be eligible for conveyance by 2030, according to information shared by the Commission.
This will contribute to a significant amount of secure housing for families, fostering a sense of belonging and security, and the comfort of knowing their children’s children will have a place to call home if they choose to stay.
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit tenant ownership option was meant to provide a genuine pathway to homeownership for families who have long been denied this opportunity. In Native country, where housing shortages are dire and generational financial wealth is rare, the program’s promise carries even greater weight. However, without a legislative push to hold agencies and investors accountable, that promise remains unfulfilled.
“I'm very worried that without any external eyes, nothing will actually happen,” Washington Rep. Gerry Pollet told Underscore + ICT.
Pollet introduced House bill 2527 with bi-partisan support during the 2026 legislative session that began on January 12, 2026, and is scheduled to end on March 12, 2026. Confusion about the program and misrepresentations by the Washington Housing Finance Commission kept the bill from moving forward but Pollet and advocates haven’t given up. Expect to see an updated bill next legislative season.
“Part of my driving concern about this issue is that we have an absolute crisis in the lack of home ownership opportunities for Native Americans in the state and particularly we've particularly difficult obstacles for home ownership on reservations,” Pollet told UNN + ICT.
This discussion is something he incorporates into his environmental justice course that he teaches at Western Washington University.
“Because of questions that banks have about underlying ownership of trust land and enforceability of liens on reservations they don't like lending, no matter how well qualified someone is to own a home on a reservation,” Pollet said. “So we have to look at home ownership opportunities that are built through the sovereignty of the tribes, and that should be supported by programs like an eventual tenant ownership program with state support to help address the dire needs for home ownership opportunities on reservations.”
This story is co-published by Underscore Native News and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.
This article first appeared on Underscore Native News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.