TULALIP — As many as 200 tribal members without homes, most of whom have been living in crowded conditions with friends and relatives, will soon get a chance to move into their own houses.
With the help of a federal tax credit, the Tulalip Tribes confederation is building 66 new homes on the reservation. The first eight of those homes are expected to be ready for people to move into by January. The rest are expected to be ready by October 2010.
The tribes already supply 267 publicly funded housing units, but 300 more families are on a waiting list, said Norma Razote, interim housing manager for the tribes.
The people at the top of the list have been waiting since 1997, Razote said.
These new homes won’t be able to accommodate everyone on the list, but they’re a big step, tribal members and others said at a dedication ceremony Monday.
“We can build QuilCeda Village up as big as we want, but we’ve got to get housing for our people,” tribal board member Tony Hatch said.
Thirty-two single-family homes and duplex units are being built in the new Mission Highlands housing development, a couple miles east of Marine Drive from the Tulalip police station. The homes will have three, four or five bedrooms.
Thirty-four other homes, ranging from two to five bedrooms, are being remodeled or built in two other locations as part of the program.
The Tulalip Tribes applied for the $7.3 million tax credit through Raymond James, an investment firm. The firm got the tax credit for the tribes through KeyBank, which recently obtained $50 million in tax credits to distribute to tribes under its Native American financial services program, said Mike Lettig, a KeyBank executive vice president based in Bellevue. Lettig created and oversees the bank’s nationwide Native American financial services branch.
Raymond James serves as the underwriter for the deal, overseeing such aspects as whether the project meets the requirements for the tax credit, Lettig said.
The bank can deduct the credit from its taxes, he said. For the tribes it acts as equity, and in 15 years the principal would be forgiven and the tribes would essentially own the housing, Lettig said.
Tribal members will be selected for the homes from the top of the waiting list, matched with homes that suit their needs. They will pay rent to the partnership of the tribes and the banks, Razote said. The tribes are considering a program in which some tribal members could eventually own the homes.
The homes are being built by U S Finish LLC of Everett. Tribal members said they were impressed with the quality of the workmanship.
The tribes also plan to build 25 more homes in 2010 with $1.2 million in federal economic stimulus funds acquired earlier this year and $1.3 million from another grant, Razote said.
Altogether, the tribes hope the new housing brings the total units of public housing on the reservation to more than 350 by the end of next year.
“This is a start, and it’s a phenomenal start,” Lettig said.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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