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Cocopah Indian Housing and Development Site Visit
April 23, 2012

CIHAD staff members. meet with the SCinIC technical team.

CIHAD multifamily building scheduled for renovation.

The sun, heat, and wind in the desert climate of southern Arizona are hard on housing. The Cocopah Indian Tribe Reservation south of Yuma, near the border with Mexico, seeks to stabilize and to strengthen its community by ensuring that its housing is safe and in good condition. Stable, decent housing will allow all tribal members who wish to live on the reservation to find suitable housing and to become homeowners, if they choose. Consequently, the Tribe has created the Cocopah Indian Housing and Development (CIHAD) to upgrade and construct the necessary infrastructure, rehabilitate existing units, and expand the supply of affordable housing units for sale or lease to tribal members.

Site plan of CIHAD multifamily housing buildings and community center scheduled for renovation.

By lowering utility costs and increasing durability of the housing, CIHAD can increase the sustainability of its housing stock and help its tenants save on expensive air conditioning bills. Sustainable Construction in Indian Country (SCinIC) team members visited the Cocopah Indian Tribe on April 1–3 to discuss strategies for helping CIHAD to rehabilitate existing all-electric multifamily housing units and a community center to become net-zero energy buildings. A net-zero building uses a renewable energy source to generate as much energy as it consumes. Most net-zero energy buildings are grid-connected and net-metered.

CIHAD’s initial plans call for immediately reducing the energy load. This may be accomplished by replacing lighting fixtures and lighting, adding occupancy sensors, upgrading to Energy Star appliances, shutting off appliances when not in use, improving insulation, and installing energy efficient windows. The incentives available through the local utility, APS (Arizona Power Service), for multifamily housing may help cut costs for making some of these changes. The SCinIC team will provide building modeling to help CIHAD make choices about installing efficient heating systems and explore the feasibility of solar as a renewable energy source.

The team also met in Phoenix on April 4 with the HUD Southwest Office of Native American Programs, the Phoenix Field Office, and the Arizona Governor’s Office of Energy Policy to discuss the CIHAD project and learn more about incentives available to Arizona utility users for making their homes more energy efficient.

Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians Design Charrette
February 24, 2012

Pokagon Band elders participate in housing design charrette.

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians has been moving toward a sustainable housing and community model since 2002. They began their culture-based development in Dowagiac, MI, at Edawat with an integrated cluster design. This design encompassed streets, sidewalks, storm water management, landscape elements, and the placement of 34 houses to retain topography and existing vegetation. In 2010, the Pokagon Band built a community center meeting LEED Gold standards. They are continuing the planning at the Edawat site in Dowagiac, as well as, beginning the process of visioning for development at two other sites in Hartford, MI, and South Bend, IN.

The Conservation Design Forum (CDF) invited Sustainable Construction in Indian Country (SCinIC) team members to attend a design charrette held at the Pokagon Band community center on February 11. CDF is the landscape architecture firm focused on sustainable design that developed the masterplan for the Pokagon Band’s first phase of development, Edawat. Community members attended this charrette to discuss their needs and wants for the next phase of development. Ideas for much needed new homes, a community garden, and renewable energy sources for the community were a few of the items mentioned during the charrette.

The SCinIC team plans to provide technical assistance to the Pokagon Band by working closely with CDF to recommend ideas for housing design that will provide the same high level of performance and sustainability that the existing infrastructure currently possesses.

Native Village of Kwinhagak Site Visit
February 10, 2012

Sustainable Construction in Indian Country (SCinIC ) team members visited the Native Village of Kwinhagak (NVK) in January 10-12, 2012. NVK is a Yup’k Eskimo community, less than a mile from the Bering Sea coast in Alaska. The community needs to replace nearly one third of its housing stock, and also has overcrowding problems and high energy expenses. NVK is working to adapt existing housing designs to maximize 1) affordability, 2) energy efficiency, and 3) ability to be built, in part, by prospective homeowners with an experienced supervisor as part of a self-help homeownership program.

Team members participated in two meetings with members of the NVK Council, NVK Corporation, and the Quinhagak city mayor. They discussed the merits of two housing designs, the experience of the community learning to build an energy efficient prototype, and the need to build with respect for the local climate and soil structure. The group decided for its 2012 building season to develop three of the Quinhagak prototype and one of the more traditional looking Crooked Creek prototype. These prototypes were developed by the Cold Climate Housing Research Center.

SCinIC team members are currently modifying the two designs to reflect changes discussed at the meeting. They will also update the materials lists to align with the new designs.

Impediments to Sustainable Construction in Indian Country
January 27, 2012

As one of its first steps, the Sustainable Construction in Indian Country initiative was charged with exploring impediments to sustainable construction practices in Native communities and to suggest solutions to these impediments. A meeting was held in conjunction with 2011 HUD Greener Homes Summit Governmental, nongovernmental, and tribal focus group participants offered observations regarding impediments to sustainable construction in Native communities. In a follow-up meeting attendees ranked, by order of importance, the impediments and brainstormed about potential solutions. Four impediments were identified. These are:

• Building codes
• Costs/funding
• Capacity building
• Planning

To learn more and read suggestions for solutions, click here to view the draft report.

Do you have experience or viewpoints on these subjects? Please feel free to offer your own comments here.

Assistant Secretary Bostic sends letters to Tribes seeking participants
November 10, 2011

Dr. Raphael Bostic, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, is sending letters to tribes and tribally designated housing entities (TDHEs) introducing the Sustainable Construction in Indian Country (SCinIC) initiative and seeking demonstration projects. Watch for yours! To provide additional information about the initiative, we’ve updated the SCinIC web page with a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) and a list of selection considerations. A sample letter is also given.

The selection considerations include a broad list of areas that HUD will review as it selects the demonstration projects to participate as best practice case studies and/or recipients of technical assistance. Demonstration projects will represent different types of projects at different stages of development from each of the six Office of Native American Program (ONAP) regions. Click here to read the selection considerations.

The FAQs include additional information about the initiative. If you’d like to know some benefits of sustainable construction practices, types of sustainable construction practices, how demonstration projects are selected, and who is eligible to apply, and more, click here to read the FAQs. These FAQs will be updated as needed.

Stay tuned for additional updates.

Click here to contact us with your questions or comments.

Downloads

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Sample Letter
• Selection Considerations