A message from Tony Walters (Cherokee), the Executive Director of the National American Indian Housing Council:

A Message from the Executive Director

I know many of you are working tirelessly to ensure the safety of your communities as the entire country deals with the coronavirus pandemic. I wanted to update all of you on some of the efforts NAIHC is involved during this time that we hope can support or inform your work related to COVID-19.

First, like many offices across the country, NAIHC’s headquarters in Washington, DC is closed but staff are teleworking and available should you have any questions that we can assist with. We would like to find out how COVID-19 is affecting your housing program, so please help us by taking this SHORT SURVEY.

I want to make sure you know that there are resources to help your housing programs navigate all of the issues that COVID-19 may present to your community. You can visit HUD ONAP’s website to see their latest updates related to COVID-19 and the resources they have available to assist your programs.

Many of the tribes have set up their own responses to COVID-19 and I hope you are already working with tribal health professionals in your area. Many states and localities also have webpages and resources available. For the federal government, I recommend visiting the CDC’s COVID-19 website and the Indian Health Service.

As for NAIHC, we are working to reschedule our trainings and on-site Technical Assistance as necessary to ensure the safety of tribal housing professionals, their communities, and our staff and instructors. NAIHC issued an update earlier this week that we have yet not postponed our Annual Convention, currently scheduled for May 5-7. Rest assured, we are working with our conference partners and monitoring recommendations of health professionals and will make any changes to our event as necessary. If the event is canceled or postponed, we will offer full refunds to anyone who has registered.

Finally, as many of you have heard, Congress is considering various proposals to bolster our national economy during these times. NAIHC is working alongside many tribal organizations in Washington, DC, and our allies in Congress to ensure that tribes and tribal housing needs are not left out.

On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors at NAIHC, thank you for your work in keeping your communities safe. We know your tribal housing staff can often be the first point of contact for those tribal members worried about COVID-19. As we keep the health and safety of you and your communities in our minds, please keep NAIHC in mind if you have any questions or concerns.