need for accurate and complete data on housing conditions. With adequate coordination the results of this survey probably could fulfill both agencies' housing data needs. NEED TO CONSIDER ADDITIONAL FACTORS Other factors having an impact on determining Indian housing needs have not been clearly identified and considered by the Bureau in planning to meet the long-term needs. These include (1) adjacent off-reservation Indian population, (2) migration of families, (3) housing deterioration, and (4) family size and income. Adjacent off-reservation Indian families have not been considered in estimating Indian housing needs, although some of these families want to be served by the housing program. For example, at the Swinomish Reservation in Washington, about four out of 10 families in the mutual-help project previously lived off the reservation. Some families have returned to the Rosebud Reservation to occupy new housing. At the Lummi Reservation in Washington, the tribal chairman stated that many Indians eligible for new housing were living in nearby off-reservation communities and had not been considered in the Bureau's estimate of needs. the Pine Ridge and Cheyenne Reservations, tribal housing authority officials advised us that, as additional houses were constructed, some families living off the reservation would return and occupy the houses. Also migration to and from the reservation is not being considered. We found no indication that reliable data on migration was available. At HUD, in developing national housing goals, estimated that about 2.2 million housing units considered adequate in 1967 would deteriorate to substandard units and would have to be replaced by 1977. The Bureau, in projecting the housing needs and in setting its goal to eliminate substandard Indian housing, however, did not consider deterioration of houses. We believe that housing deterioration is a factor that should be considered. (See ch. 4 for a detailed discussion of home maintenance problems.) In formulating plans to eliminate substandard housing, neither the housing authorities nor the Bureau has identified which programs are best suited to the needs of the Indian population in view of such factors as the Indian family's size and income, desire for homeownership, and ability and desire to maintain a house. 45-306 O 755 The Chief of the Bureau's Housing Assistance Division told us that the above factors should be considered in estimating housing needs but that the necessary data was not available. CONCLUSIONS Indian housing needs have not been properly identified because guidelines have not been established to assist Bureau field officials in determining and categorizing housing conditions; because periodic inventories of existing housing conditions generally have not been taken; and because such factors as adjacent off-reservation Indian population, family migration, family size and income, and house deterioration have not been considered. Housing on Indian reservations can be provided under various federally assisted housing programs. Some are ownership programs, while others are rental programs; some call for Indian participation in the construction, while others do not; and some provide home maintenance services, while others require the family to perform needed maintenance. HUD's public housing programs require occupants to make monthly equity or rent payments; the Bureau's housing improvement program provides grants and does not require occupants to make monthly payments. Also family income qualifications differ under each program. The existance of these various programs provides the opportunity to plan housing programs that are best suited to meet the specific needs and desires of Indian families. Without adequate data, however, it becomes difficult for the tribal housing authorities or the Bureau to develop realistic reservation housing plans. If Indian housing needs were accurately and completely identified, the program could be more effectively administered, because the Bureau would have data to assist it in adequately answering such pertinent questions as: --How many families are or will be in need of housing between now and 1980? --How many existing houses are standard or substandard? Of the substandard houses, how many need to be replaced rather than renovated? --Where are the houses most urgently needed? And how should resources be allocated to meet these needs? --What specific housing program or programs will best meet the reservation housing needs? --To what extent are such factors as migration to and from a reservation and structural deterioration of housing units affecting program accomplishments? --What real progress is being made to eliminate substandard housing? The availability of reliable and complete data on housing needs would permit development of more realistic plans to eliminate substandard housing and would provide the basis for appraising the incremental progress being made toward accomplishment of the goal. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR We recommend that the Secretary of the Interior direct the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to (1) require Bureau field officials to ensure that periodic inventories of housing conditions are taken using the guidelines issued by the Commissioner in May 1970 and (2) expand the procedures for measuring housing needs to include consideration of variable factors, such as family migration, adjacent off-reservation Indian population, housing deterioration, and family size and income, that have an impact on Indian housing needs. AGENCY COMMENTS The Department of the Interior, in commenting on our draft report, advised us that annual housing inventories would be taken and that the Department would utilize data obtained from the Indian Health Service and HUD and from the Bureau's population statistics. The Department also agreed to consider factors that have an impact on housing |