TULALIP — A former Tulalip Tribes housing official whose government-subsidized 5,200-square-foot home became a symbol of lax regulation in the 1990s has been appointed interim director of the tribes’ housing operations.
Mike Alva was hired by the tribal board to lead its newly reorganized housing agency.
“He is just there temporarily until we get a job description and advertisements out and get a tribal member in there,” said Mel Sheldon, the tribal chairman.
In 1997, investigators for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development found that tribal housing leaders used money from a $2.5 million grant to build large, expensive homes for themselves and relatives. The grant was supposed to help low- and moderate-income families become homeowners.
The audit found the housing authority created a conflict of interest by providing seven of the 18 homes under the grant to housing authority leaders and their relatives. The largest home was built for Alva, the agency’s contracting director at the time, and his wife, former Tulalip Housing Authority executive director Patti Gobin, who is a tribal member.
At the time, Tulalip housing officials argued that the houses were allowed under a new relaxed set of rules adopted by HUD under deregulation.
Eventually, Alva and Gobin were sanctioned by HUD and paid back more than $200,000.
“Mr. Alva had been barred from doing business with any federal agency for a period of three years as a result of the issues surrounding the house,” said Lee Jones, a HUD spokesman in Seattle. That condition expired many years ago and Alva is under no restrictions from taking the job.
Sheldon said the Tulalip Tribes approved a recommendation by tribal staff to have Alva oversee its reorganized housing agency that involves HUD federal housing money and a tribal housing program that uses tribal dollars.
“It’s a realignment to provide better job efficiencies and customer service and to build more homes for our people,” Sheldon said.
Sheldon said Alva did not approach the board about the opening, and was recommended for the position in the interim because of his experience.
Alva could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Alva has trained tribal members in the construction trade and was part of the construction oversight team for the tribe’s museum and administration building projects, Sheldon said.
“We, like anybody else, are a forgiving people and we try to move on,” Sheldon said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
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