As discussed above, each participant would be obligated under his leasepurchase contract with the housing authority to provide all the maintenance for his house; and any expenses for maintenance and vacancy and collection losses which are incurred because of the participant's failure to properly maintain the house or pay rent would, upon the participant's failure to pay such expenses, be reimbursed out of the mutual-help funds consisting of the operating reserve and the unadvanced portion of the PHA loan. (The proposed amount of $200 for the operating reserve per unit is based on the PHA Management Manual requirement relating to projects consisting of 25 units or less.) In view of the above, and if the Tribal Government and/or the BIA would provide for administration and overhead, the operating charges to the participant (exclusive of materials and supplies furnished by him) could be brought down to about $10 per month based on the following estimate: If, however, it should be necessary to charge the participants for administration and overhead, the additional amount of $7.00 shown above for "Administrative expense" would have to be added, bringing the total to about $17 per month. It should be noted that these figures are based upon the estimated expenses for the Pine Ridge project mentioned above, and therefore, would not necessarily be the same in other locations. Joseph Bustin General Counsel U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT CIRCULAR HPMC-FHA 7580.3 ATTENTION: REGIONAL OFFICE: ARA for HPMC, Low-Rent Specialist Regional Counsel AREA OFFICE: Operations Division Director Program Managers, Area Counsel Indian Housing Authority Organization and Sites in June 19, 1972 SUBJECT: Indian Areas 1. PURPOSE. To provide instructions and information regarding the organization of Indian housing authorities and the use of sites in Indian areas. This Circular supersedes (a) PHA Circular 12-15-61 "Low-Rent Housing for Indian Tribes on Indian Reservations," and (b) PHA Legal Division Book Memorandum of January 5, 1965, "Modification of Tribal Ordinance Form. " 2. LEGAL BASIS OF INDIAN HOUBING AUTHORITIES AND HUD'S ASSISTANCE. 8. Under the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, HUD is authorized to provide financial and technical assistance to public housing agencies (usually identified as local housing authorities) for the development and operation of low-rent housing. Local housing authorities, typically, are corporate bodies established and authorized to function in a locality pursuant to State law for the purpose of providing low-rent housing for low-income families. b. Where an Indian tribe under its Constitution and By Laws (or other recognized governing document) has an established governing body with governmental police power to promote the general welfare (1.e., peace, health, safety, and morals) on their Reservation, the governing body can perform the legal functions which are otherwise performed by the State legislature and local governments in connection with HUD-assisted low-rent housing. (As used herein, the term "tribe" includes a band, nation, community, group, pueblo, rancheria, or colony and the term "Reservation" includes a Pueblo, Colony, or Rancheria.) Specifically, a tribal governing body with sufficient governmental powers is legally competent to enact an ordinance creating a housing authority and providing for the necessary local governmental cooperation so as to qualify for HUD-assistance under the U. 8. Housing Act of 1937, as amended. Sufficient governmental powers usually exist where a tribe is organized under a constitution adopted pursuant to section 17 of DISTRIBUTION: 0-2,W-1,W-3,w-3-1,R-1,R-2,R-3,R-3-2,R-3-1 R-5, R-5-1 HPMC-FHA 7580.3 C. the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (25 U.s.c. 476) and Certain Indian tribes may not have sufficient governmental d. Pursuant to Public Law 83-280 (28 u.s.c. 1360) and Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (25 U.S.c. 1321-1326), certain states have been ceded civil and criminal jurisdiction over certain tribes and further such cessions are legally possible. It is also possible under Section 403 of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (25 U.S.C. 1323) for such jurisdiction to be retroceded (returned) to the Federal government. Where such jurisdiction has been so ceded to a state (and where there has not been a retrocession), a tribe which otherwise has sufficient governmental powers to engage in HUD-assisted low-rent housing may be precluded from enacting an ordinance establishing a housing authority or undertaking the development of low-rent housing independent of state law if it is found that such enactment or undertaking by the tribe would be in conflict with state law. (See 28 U.S.C. 1360 (c) and 25 U.S.C. 1322 (c) for statutory provisions regarding continued power of such tribes to enact ordinances.) Questions regarding the possibility of such conflicts should be forwarded by the Area Director to the HUD General Counsel if they cannot be resolved by the Area or Regional Counsel. 6/72 HPMC-FHA 7580.3 e. Special provisions relating to California Indian reservations 3. ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATIONS FOR SPECIFIC TRIBES. A tribe shall be determined to be eligible for HUD-assistance pursuant to the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, either when it has a housing authority established pursuant to state law or when it has enacted an ordinance in a form approved by HUD (see paragraph 4 below) and where such ordinance and its enactment have been approved by a duly authorized official of the Interior Department. (This Interior Department approval authority has been delegated to the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Area Directors, and, in some cases, Agency Superintendents of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.) However, to preclude the possibility of an ineligible tribe going through the steps of organizing a housing authority, advice as to eligibility may be requested from the HUD General Counsel who will obtain any necessary advice from the Interior Department. In some cases where preliminary examination indicates a tribe to be ineligible, the legal deficiencies may be corrected by an amendment of the tribe's constitution. 4. FORMS OF TRIBAL ORDINANCE AND ORGANIZATION DOCUMENTS. 8. Attached as Exhibits to this Circular are the following: (1) Form HUD-52904, Tribal Ordinance (2) Form HUD-52905, Model Transcript for the Organization and Establishment of Housing Authorities on Indian Reservations, (including instructions as to the submission of various documents). 6/72 HPMC-FHA 7580.3 b. C. (3) Form HUD-52906, Outline of Documents Required for Complete Organization Transcript for Housing Authorities on Indian Reservations, (including instructions as to the submission of various documents). These documents are for use in the establishment of Indian housing authorities independent of state law and must be examined in each case to see that language which is inapplicable or inappropriate for the particular case is properly modified. Except as provided below, any change of substance must be submitted to the HUD General Counsel who will obtain any necessary administrative approvals and determine the legality of such a change. References in Form HUD-52906 to HUD "Regional Office" shall be deemed to mean Area Office except in the case of the Denver Region (VIII). Since it is not anticipated that there will be a significant In general, a cooperation agreement in the usual form will not be necessary because all the essential points of cooperation required of a governing body are included in Article VIII of Form HUD-52904, Tribal Ordinance. The following features of this section of the Ordinance should be noted: (1) No provision is made for payments in lieu of taxes because there is usually no property tax applicable to any property on an Indian reservation. (2) No mandatory provision for equivalent elimination is in- |