American Indian Housing Aid targeted for Draconian cuts

American Indian housing aid from the federal government has been targeted for a deep cut in the Bush administration's 2006 budget request. Unless Congress acts to restore funding, more than $100 million in assistance, or 15 percent of the total, will be taken away from Americans most in need of housing help. The major funding cuts - $107 million - come in the housing block grants administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development under NAHASDA (Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act), and the Indian set-aside in the Community Development Block Grant program (the I-CDBG). Other Native-friendly programs, such as HUD's Rural Housing and Economic Development (RHED) program which generally targets at least a quarter of its $25 million annually for Indian projects, have been zeroed out. However, in a telling indication of the way budget politics is played in Washington, this is the fourth straight year in which RHED has been zeroed out by the Administration. Congress has restored it three times. The NAHASDA block grants stand to be cut by $39 million to $583 million; while the I-CDBG, enacted for $68 million in fiscal 2005, would be effectively zeroed out in HUD's budget by being combined with NAHASDA with no additional funding. The rest of the giant CDBG program is being transferred to the Commerce Department, saving HUD a total of more than $4 billion. It is slated to be combined with a slew of other housing and community development programs, at apparently reduced funding levels. [more]