UPSC Handwritten Notes Best Practices In Tribal Housing | Important Notes Free PDF Download

Notes By-

Sachin Gupta

Cleared UPSC 2017 with AIR-3

It is with great enthusiasm that we present the exemplary tribal housing documented here, as part of the Case Studies 2013 project by the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative. These case studies are foundational to our multiyear effort to research and share the exciting work that tribes are undertaking across the country. The 17 projects featured are not intended to represent all of the green building occurring across Indian Country, but rather to exemplify an emerging transformation in tribal housing. Once again, tribal housing projects are increasingly connected to heritage, culture, and nature.
Many best practices are emerging from this research, helping to clarify the innovative ways that tribal housing providers are overcoming challenges including funding, infrastructure capacity, loss of cultural traditions, and economic development. In particular, many featured teams approached housing development in a holistic manner—incorporating meaningful community engagement during the design process, reaching out to establish partnerships and collaborations that later proved critical for success, and solving complex challenges, from site planning to financing and tribal employment. Four of these projects were documented through video to better tell their stories.
These 17 projects, selected from a group of diverse projects nationwide, are all recently built works with the exception of one long-term sustainable housing plan. They were reviewed for their replicability and applicability to other communities, and for their expression of green building features, community engagement processes, design excellence, cultural sensitivity, and for addressing broader community needs, such as training and employment. The projects were selected to show a range of project types, including rental and homeownership projects; and multifamily, single-family, and prototype demonstration projects. Importantly, each project was reviewed for its comprehensive approach and its potential to educate and inspire other communities.
A breakdown of the projects is shown below. The projects showcased here demonstrate that high-quality housing from within tribal communities can be a catalytic force—providing hope and strength in sometimes desperate conditions. It is hoped that through the dissemination of this case study research, technical assistance collaborations, and funding focused on sustainable construction, more tribal communities will gain access to the means of creating their own culturally appropriate and environmentally responsible housing. This Case Study 2013 research exists with the support of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Policy Development and Research Office (PD&R), through the Sustainable Construction in Indian Country Small Grant Program


Good design is the cornerstone of the highlighted projects presented here. They bear witness to a transformation of tribal housing around the country through community engagement, innovative thinking, thoughtful design, creative financing, partnership-building, and a connection to heritage, culture, and nature. Because many of them have incorporated various checklists, rating systems, internal reviews, and building commissioning through the green building process, their design and construction have been tested for appropriateness and durability. For instance, tight building envelopes, properly installed flashing so water sheds properly, appropriate R-values based on the climate, and properly sized and installed heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Many of these projects incorporated a dialogue with the community to discuss specific family, cultural, and heritage needs that housing can and should address. The most successful projects involved a high level of collaboration among many different partners, including housing authorities, architects and engineers, community members, tribal leaders, funding agencies, and contractors. This type of collaborative effort, known as “integrated design,” ensures that long-term goals and the project vision are established collectively at the onset and can be tested through many lenses. This effort results in more thoughtfully designed and built projects, which typically have fewer change orders during construction. Because of the integrated design approach, each project is uniquely realized and built specifically for its community and place. For example, it is clear from the photographs that the Kumuhau Subdivision is in Hawaii, the Place of Hidden Waters is in the Northwest, the Guadalupe and Nageezi homes are located in the Southwest desert, and the Ysleta del Sur and Owe’neh Bupingeh homes are in Pueblo communities. Many of these projects are also beautiful, serving as beacons of community hope and pride.

DEVINE LEGACY

This affordable housing community was the first to open along the Phoenix Metro light-rail line at the Campbell & Central Light Rail Station. Native American Connections developed the site selected for the project, which included a blighted building that had been vacant since 2006 and posed a threat to the neighborhood for loitering, vandalism, and graffiti, and which caused concerns of increased crime at other neighborhood properties. The redevelopment of the project site remedied all these issues. The project contains a wide range of housing types, including townhomes, lofts, and flats, with 90 percent affordable and 10 percent marketrate units. The site is strategically located for residents to gain access to work and school, with a light-rail station located one half block away and downtown less than 3 miles to the south. The city’s main public high school is located directly across the street from the development. The building just to the development’s south contains the offices of the developer and the many social services, health, and cultural organizations that cater to the needs of Native Americans in Phoenix.

The primary site feature is the courtyard on the second level that is open to the sky. The courtyard provides a protected common space for tenants and is a contextual element of the Southwest vernacular. It has a playground for children and sitting areas for adults. Common barbecue grills are in the courtyard and at outdoor common areas on each floor. Parking, which was reduced because of access to the adjacent rail line, is provided in a parking garage at the ground floor, along with bicycle racks. A new community room on the property, which faces the street, is designed for many purposes, including a meeting space for the residents’ association, tutoring, training classes, and family events.
This mixed-income housing project was designed as a culturally appropriate urban Indian community. The project’s design excellence was a top priority of Native American Connections. To effectively accomplish its goals, the developer decided it was necessary to engage in the design process. Arizona State University Stardust and Pyatok Associates worked with the project team at the onset to provide design visioning and cultural insights. The result is a contemporary southwestern vernacular building that embodies the project’s highest priorities, including a high-density, transit-oriented development program, comfortable outdoor communal space, high green performance standards, and cultural design elements. Because one size does not fit all, the development has a variety of unit types—seven total. To effectively blend market-rate units with affordable housing units, the project team realized that some market-rate amenities must be made available to everyone, such as high ceilings and an urban “loft” look for some of the units. The two-story apartments, with double-height living spaces, have vertical stack ventilation, reducing dependence on air conditioning during the transitional seasons. The courtyard open to the east and west acts as a breezeway, bringing air through the building mass.
The sustainable, affordable housing development is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes Multifamily Platinum project, making it the most sustainable housing community in Arizona. The project team’s initial goal was to achieve LEED Silver certification. After completion of the energy modeling and consultation with the LEED for Homes provider, the team decided to try for Gold certification. As the project progressed, even Platinum certification became a possibility. The entire project team worked during the process to incorporate additional green measures. As a result, the project achieved 26 percent energy savings and diverted 58 percent of its construction waste from the landfill. ENERGY STAR appliances were installed; all HVAC equipment is high efficiency, and no HCFC refrigerants were used. Wall insulation is higher than required by code in the Phoenix area, and windows have U-values of 0.42 and a solar heat gain coefficient of 0.32. All plumbing fixtures are low flow. The project received exemplary LEED points because of the close proximity to light-rail, which allows for 373 riders per day. These design solutions allow for a significant reduction in the challenging southern Arizona climate.

The project was oriented toward Native American working families in Phoenix, and the design is based on the culture of the ancient Hohokam, who were one of the original people of the Phoenix Valley and lived in compact, pueblo-style, earthen, multistory structures. There are numerous health and social services provided in the Native American Connections building just next door, which is important to the families living here. The development team hosted focus groups through architectural programming sessions on unit amenities, features, and design. Eco-traditional designs such as east-facing entrance, courtyard, and gathering spaces for residents, perform to provide effective cross ventilation and bring in eastern light. Units were designed with open kitchen and living environments for family gatherings. The project has become part of a larger Native American community center for the surrounding urban area.
Started as a vision five years ago, Devine Legacy, located on Central, is the first mixed-income transit-oriented development (TOD) housing community to open along the Phoenix Metro light-rail line. FINANCING Trying to secure funding for the project in late 2009 and early 2010 was very challenging in the capital markets. A great deal of patience and time was spent with each funding source to address any concerns regarding the financial viability of the project given the economic climate of that time. After completion of the project, in 2011, Native American Connections converted its permanent financing in the fall of 2012.

The project takes advantage of the benefits of a very urban location to meet the transit and supportive services needs of urban Indians in Phoenix. The transit-oriented, high-density design makes it easier for working families to live affordably without having to own a car—a significant paradigm shift in a very car-oriented, western city. Through the design process and community meetings, the project team realized that any cultural design elements incorporated into the project would need to be somewhat universal, because families from many different traditions would be living in the community here. In addition, it was determined that, because of the high density of the project, excellent outdoor common space areas designed to be comfortable in all seasons were critical. The development team’s green design objectives were clear from the outset, but it was not originally anticipated that the project would obtain LEED Platinum certification, which was met because of the comprehensive approach to all site and building elements.
Client/Developer Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Sustainability Consultant: Green Sand, Inc. Architect: Armstrong Design, LTD HERS Rater: Green Building, LLC Contractor: Armstrong Builders, LLC Landscape Architect: PBR Hawaii Engineers: BASE + Akinaka Associates Other Partners: HUD, USDA Rural Development, Veterans Affairs, FHA, Home Street Bank, Office of Hawaiian Affairs
The Kumuhau Subdivision provided eco-friendly and climate-responsive home ownership opportunities to 45 Native Hawaiian families in Waimanalo, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. After developing the site, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) competitively selected Armstrong Development to design and build the project. The climateresponsive and cost-effective designs include social elements, such as carports that act as outdoor shaded rooms and considerations for future expansion. The homes were so popular and demand so great that all the homes were sold in one day.

KUMUHAU SUBDIVISION

The project is located approximately 1 mile from the eastern, windward coast of Oahu and the Waimanalo Bay State Recreation Area. Only 15 miles and a 30-minute drive from Honolulu, Waimanalo has one of the highest concentrations of Native Hawaiians on Oahu—almost 25 percent of the town is made up of Pacific Islanders. Waimanalo means “potable water,” apparently named for the many ponds in the area and its agricultural history. Today, there is an interest to revitalize Waimanalo’s agricultural traditions through projects such as the 21st Century Ahupua’a. AHUPUA’A K— anewai, or the “rule of the water,” helped to inform the development of the covenants, codes, and restrictions for Kumuhau’s homeowner association. Kanewai is also the basis of the ahupua’a, which is the traditional Hawaiian land ownership and management system. The ahupua’a extends from the mountaintop to the coral reefs in the sea, with specific rights and responsibilities for everyone helping to sustainably manage this very interrelated ecosystem. The ahupua’a system in Hawaii was mostly destroyed by modern development and economic systems. However, today there is an interest to reactivate the concept as a local form of sustainability, and the town of Waimanalo is on the forefront of this with the 21st Century Ahupua’a, including the Living Laboratory and Sweet Home Waimanalo Market Cafe. It is hoped that future housing development in Waimanalo ties into the exciting sustainability work and reinvigoration of agriculture by local groups.

The homes were designed to evoke the colorful plantation style homes of Hawaii, with both one- and two-story homes. Careful attention was paid to a connection between the indoor and outdoor and to taking advantage of the temperate Hawaiian climate to allow for more outdoor living. Each home has a “lanai,” or veranda, and the parking was designed so that two cars can fit in the driveway, allowing the carport to be used as an outdoor living room. Each carport has a screen, providing extra privacy between neighbors. The homes were also designed to be easily expandable, an important consideration, given that many Native Hawaiian families are large. Extra plumbing stub outs allow for eventual build-out of an additional bathroom and bedroom.
Because this was a design/build process, the design was tested against costs at every step along the way. This allowed for innovative measures to be incorporated, such as the solution to the high wind design load requirement per building code. Instead of stiffening the entire house frame at the exterior walls or installing expensive storm windows, Armstrong designed custom, predrilled plywood panels that can be easily installed over the windows before a large storm event, when the high winds occur, that serve to stiffen the entire frame of each home. The plywood panels are stored in custom-made racks located overhead in each carport. IMPACT More than 55 percent of Native Hawaiians pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing, and only 57 percent own their homes. The cost of living in Hawaii is very expensive and Native Hawaiians do not have the same access to tribal trust land as many tribes on the mainland, requiring them to qualify for conventional mortgages or wait to be assigned a home through the DHHL wait list. In order to qualify, families must have at least 50 percent blood quantum, must qualify for a mortgage, and then may eventually receive a home based on a lottery system. DHHL recognizes the dire need for more high quality housing and is developing property throughout Hawaii. DHHL began developing the Waimanalo site before hiring Armstrong through a competitive bid process. Armstrong won the bid in part because of their commitment to LEED certification. Armstrong acted as the designer and builder. Armstrong and DHHL worked with Home Street Bank to help interested Native Hawaiian families qualify for home mortgages. Because of the green design features, the hard work of families to qualify for mortgages, and the need for housing, the homes all sold within one day. LESSONS LEARNED This process helped to demonstrate that affordable housing can be cost-effectively built to LEED standards and can have a high market demand even in a difficult economic recession. It has also helped to modify DHHL’s development process, so that with new projects, site planning occurs simultaneously with building design. This helps to avoid coordination pitfalls. There are also exciting new partnerships to ensure that future projects are developed in an integrated and sustainable manner and that they are climatically and culturally appropriate. Recently, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which is focused on reducing the amount that Native Hawaiians pay for housing and on increasing home ownership, partnered with DHHL to help pay for infrastructure costs through paying the debt service on $90 million of DHHL bonds. These critical partnerships, along with the success of the Kumuhau Subdivision, are leading to exciting new projects including new homes in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii and on the island of Maui. Photo: David Franzen Photo: Yumeko Tochiko Left-to-right: Kahu Kordell, Anita Seyer-Wong, and Daniel Sandomire I have seen the aloha from the many people….I have met through this process, how much care and pride they have in their work. That is important to me as a Hawaiian, because it has always been about partnership and those that come to provide helping hands and their hands mana’o. So this house represents me everything as a Hawaiian, and it’s beautiful, beautiful,
 

KIKUNOL HOUSING

KUMUHAU SUBDIVISION

 

Today, Pleasant Point is a small reservation of about 2,000 residents. The Pleasant Point Housing Authority (PPHA) owns most of the housing on the reservation. The community is very close and committed to its tribal history and roots. The project site is in a wooded area that is slightly elevated from the rest of the housing development. It is developed in the form of a semicircle, which references the form of traditional tribal gatherings. CULTURE Kikunol Housing was designed with respect for Passamaquoddy heritage. Passamaquoddy winter structures, such as wigwams, were built with local materials, with their openings facing to the east—welcoming the morning sun. A decorated pole was used to prop open a traditional entry. Designed to blend with the wooded landscape, natural tones and curved forms mimic the bark of trees. The common area, entrances, and building designs incorporate symbols and shapes that express Passamaquoddy heritage and history. Photo: Design Group Collaborative Drawing: Design Group Collaborative Photo: SNCC GREEN The buildings are oriented for maximum solar gain and exposure, similar to Passamaquoddy traditional structures, which took advantage of maximum solar exposure. The design includes large overhangs and large south-facing windows in each home to provide natural daylight and help reduce the heat load in the winter. The homes also have high-efficiency heating systems and airtight construction methods.
The homes are grouped four units to a building, minimizing impact on the site. The staggered pattern allows for private entrances and backyard areas. Each building includes a combination of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. A lesson learned was to coordinate the impact of the development on the neighboring wetlands earlier in the process. The landscape design had to be modified so as not to impact wetlands, which was a good environmental move, but it required the circular layout of the housing units to be altered and the tribal gathering area eliminated. If this impact had been realized earlier in the project, the design could have been better coordinated with the wetlands.


Native American communities have long sustained a strong sense of place, identity, and community, even through major social and geographic upheavals. A native sense of place links the natural, physical world to cultural values, a strong cosmology, and an understanding that everything is interconnected. These core values help to link cultural sustainability with ecological sustainability. Many of these projects exemplify place-based solutions, such as project locations and site planning that consider infrastructure, density, habitat protection, and affordability. In the tribal tradition, homes were typically rural, although due to many factors, tribes often gathered within a defined community commons area. The small land base of many reservations, combined with the high cost of infrastructure, is leading to a return to traditional arrangements of homes and community services in ways that are appropriate to each community. For example, Owe’neh Bupingeh is based on a long-term master land use plan, promoting compact development in the historic Pueblo core. Located in a high-altitude ponderosa forest, the I-Sah’-Din’-Dii Housing Project at Mescalero Apache exhibits a low-impact design that maintains a rural feel but places the homes closer together to reduce infrastructure costs and protect the natural habitat. The Navajo Housing Authority Planning Manual establishes standards for maintaining sustainability and affordability in appropriately planned developments across the Navajo Nation. Access to healthy food is an important aspect of site planning, and the Place of Hidden Waters is beginning to reap the rewards of onsite community gardens. Managing and protecting water through rain gardens and rainwater harvesting help conserve a precious resource for the future. The Place of Hidden Waters, Teekalet Village Housing, and Penobscot Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Homes are creatively sited housing that protects and celebrates natural habitats central to their respective lifeways and heritage.

NAGEEZI HOUSE

The house is designed to reflect and celebrate traditional Navajo culture. The home’s innovative design reflects the traditional structures of the Navajo, including the hooghan (home) and the chahash’oh (shade structure). Both Mary and Kee Augustine grew up in traditional Navajo hooghans. For the past 40 years, however, they had been living in a conventional western home and had grown accustomed to that lifestyle. In consultation with Mary and Kee, a design was developed that honored and reflected Navajo traditions but provides the size, privacy, and compartmentalization of conventional housing. Like a hooghan, the doorway faces east, and circulation through the home is in a clockwise flow, from the more public areas (living/kitchen/dining) toward the private rooms (bathroom and bedrooms). These rooms wrap around an octagonal courtyard, designed to reflect the Navajo hooghan in form and in the materials. Living, kitchen, and dining spaces are combined into one large, south-facing room to allow for larger family gatherings and to reflect the shared space of the hooghan. A shade structure on the south face protects the southern windows and deck from the summer sun and is designed to reflect the traditional chahash’oh that the Navajo use as a summer shade structure and cooking area. At the center of the east-facing courtyard, an outdoor fire pit represents the fire at the heart of the hooghan. Windows are placed to provide views through the house to all four cardinal directions from the courtyard.

TEEKALET VILLAGE

Many of the approximately 1,300 tribal members of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (PGST) live on the shores of Port Gamble Bay on the Kitsap Peninsula. A ferry and short drive from Seattle, these 2 miles of waterfront are part of the reservation. Although historically a Salishspeaking people, the PGST were well established in the Puget Sound basin by 1400 BCE. Today, the S’Klallam people continue to practice the traditions that shaped their culture and lives, including fishing, hunting, singing, and dancing. The tribal website makes it clear that the PGST are working hard to build a better community for future generations. DESIGN A pleasing cluster of homes in a variety of layouts and colors is anchored by a community center and an access loop. Project materials include cement fibre board sheathing, composition shingle roofing, and timber porches. COMMUNITY Several tribal offices and businesses are within walking distance of the site and an exemplary community center, composed of a culturally appropriate longhouse, library, housing authority, other tribal offices, and new school. 2 1/2 Bedrooms | 2 Story | Floor Plans DAY LIGHTING Because sunlight is scarce in the Pacific Northwest, during the winter, architects designed the houses with smaller building envelopes to allow light to enter from two sides. The porches were also equipped with transparent roofing allowing more light through. On the south side of the homes, shading elements keep the homes from overheating.

 

TEEKALET VILLAGE

A dynamic site water system protects the salmon creek, hatchery, and Puget Sound waters below. The site design by civil engineer Ahmis Loving and Nez Perce tribal member and landscape architect Brian McCormack features water management, pervious paving, swales, and rain gardens to arrive at a resilient habitat for newly introduced native plants that protect the nearby creek shed and allow for access to community services, fishing, recreation, and play. VISION Common Ground performed a study and determined a clear need for affordable housing, confirming the tribe’s recognition that there was not enough housing for low-income community members, and that a priority was healthy homes in a dense configuration close to community facilities. The Tribal Council tasked the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (PGST) Housing Authority with developing the project. ITERATION The design team was provided with information from community meetings, where tribal members communicated the need for a large gathering areas. This was provided through the inclusion of a community center, indoor/ outdoor social spaces, open floor plans for kitchen, living, dining, and porches

PINOLEVILLE POMO NATION HOMES

Several key partnerships made this project unique and helped to assure its success. A collaborative design approach allowed for technology transfer in many areas: education about passive solar, water harvesting, cob, earth plasters, and stone masonry. The culturally informed design of the houses reflect a Pinoleville Pomo Nation (PPN) preference for traditional curving and nonlinear forms in their structures. The use of straw bale and natural materials and finishes enhanced this preference. The design went through several phases of revision by local builders and natural-building facilitators. In a parallel process, the PPN collaborated with the Development Center for Appropriate Technology (DCAT) to produce a tribal green building code framework in 2011. PROCESS Community engagement was important throughout the design/build process. The co-design approach developed after a request from PPN for University of California, Berkeley, technical assistance. PPN was most knowledgeable about their Nation and needs, and the University of California, Berkeley, had specific technical skills to add to achieve goals. One challenge in the process was to determine the tribe’s goals. UCB/CARES researched methods of engagement to arrive at a framework for collaboration while helping to define what sustainability means to Pinoleville Pomo Nation community citizens. Working with the DCAT and others, the tribe has developed a framework of tribal green building codes to assert cultural sovereignty, address tribal priorities, and build capacity.

PENOBSCOT LEED HOMES

The Penobscot Indian Nation Housing Authority (PINHA) project is located on Indian Island in the Penobscot River. Indian Island is the traditional center of a group of clans who lived along the river, and is connected by a single bridge to Old Town, Maine. The homes are framed by woods, with strong connections to cultural and historic locations, and by the cultural focus of the river, boating, and recreation activities. CULTURE The homes bridge nature and community, with pathways to ceremonial sites and access to river and woods. Tribal designs are cut into local woodwork on homes of natural and earth tones, while trails link to town, to nature, and to a ceremonial area that is a circle of standing stones and sweat lodges. Tribal artists created stone monuments along trails, and the Tribal Cultural & Natural Resources team worked with the Boys and Girls Club to locate and illustrate indigenous medicinal plants.
The development consists of 11 three-bedroom homes at 1,265 sq ft and one four-bedroom home at 1,478 sq ft. Compact one-story homes line an access road and then transition to a trail network leading to a ceremonial circle. The homes feature inset porches for some relief from the basic rectangular footprint. Their siting amidst the Maine woods and dramatic topography make the setting special. GREEN The LEED Gold housing includes radiant hydronic floors, solar hot water systems, blown-in insulation, and efficient framing. The many regional materials (within 500 miles) featured include local wood such as cherry cabinets and maple flooring. Native, ceremonial, useful, and edible plants are cultivated along a “medicine trail” network that supports circulation, education, and recreation.

The Penobscot Indian Nation Housing Authority (PINHA), with tribal project lead Craig Sanborn, brought together elders, children, future homeowners, tribal agencies, and banks to create a common vision. A primary focus was bringing young tribal members back to live on Indian Island through the provision of high-quality, affordable homes. A dedicated internal team formed of PINHA staff, a grant writer, and an architect set a goal to create a credible and attractive vision for the community. Through this committed partnership, they obtained commitments from tribal leadership, departmental directors, and local and federal agencies. PARTICIPATION A tribal committee was created to help address the development of more financing choices for tribal members. They worked with leaders in the tribal community to negotiate with federal agencies, resulting in tailored model lending documents that were acceptable and adopted by the Tribe through tribal legislation. The PINHA worked with lenders to conduct tribal mortgage and home buyer workshops. New financial frameworks were created and cultural pathways were reestablished.

MESCALERO APACHE TRIBE | I-SAH’-DIN’-DII, PHASE I

The site was designed using a combination of strategies to incorporate walkability, low-impact development, and passive solar design. Low-impact development principles are based on minimizing impact on the natural environment, such as siting roads and building pads according to existing terrain and topography, limiting the area of disturbance around construction, clustering development, and designing roads and walkways that limit the velocity of runoff and offsite erosion. DESIGN The homes incorporate passive solar design and orientation to reduce energy costs. The annual sun angles for Mescalero, New Mexico, were analyzed and appropriately sized overhangs were built. This design approach allows the lower winter sun to radiate into the home and the higher summer sun to be blocked out. The combination of overhangs, concrete floor slab, and large southern windows, along with other design strategies such as a well-insulated building envelope and wood stoves, helps reduce winter heating bills.

NORTHERN CHEYENNE | STRAW BALE HOMES

The Straw Bale Construction Internship (SBCI) provides paid training for tribal members to learn and utilize construction and project management skills. SBCI equips tribal members with the necessary skills to address long-term housing needs in their communities. Equally important, the vocational skills participants learned to help pave the way for future employment opportunities. The SBCI program addresses the need for safe and affordable tribal housing by combining sustainable home construction technology with hands-on, paid construction training. The program equips tribal members with the skills to address long-term housing needs in their communities while strengthening future employment opportunities. GREEN The Red Feather Development Group (RFDG) employs green approaches where possible without sacrificing efficiency, cost-effectiveness, or ease of construction/maintenance. Straw bale is suited well to the community/volunteer build approach and represents a local, renewable, non-toxic and carbon-sequestering material. RFDG typically builds a superinsulated, load-bearing straw bale envelope atop a thickenededge high-volume fly ash concrete foundation. Stained concrete floors avoid many interior pollution issues and typically contain radiant floor systems. Other green features include: solar PV and/or hot water, post-consumer attic insulation (newspaper), rainwater harvesting, efficient fixtures and appliances, local wood, and low/no VOC paints and stains Exploded perspective Standardization and materials analysis yields economies, efficiencies, and reduced waste. Pre-manufactured components: trusses, cores, appliances Protective stucco plaster Super-insulating local, structural straw bales Radiant floor heating system Frost-protected shallow foundation saves concrete cost and adjacent trees CULTURE Culturally appropriate features connected with these Northern Cheyenne homes include east-facing doors to face the rising sun, large kitchens open to living areas for celebrations and gatherings, and design accents preferred by individual tribal member families. Cultural features include site orientation and location adjustments, location of windows to control key views and privacy concerns, shade structures and covered entries, building portions made of salvage materials, live-edge wood porch columns and tribal and family designs such as rafter profile details. Such features reflect respect for native-to-place materials. IMPACT Though the number of homes needed on the Northern Plains is very high, the Red Feather process has been an effective and scalable path to incremental development. The impact of this work goes far beyond the seven houses constructed. Red Feather shows that continuing to work with the same community yields results over time. The cultural bridges built between volunteers, students, RFDG staff, and tribal members are lasting and have incredible value. Also, producing publications, curricula, and workshops alongside homes has had wide-ranging effects. In one case a group of tribal members in Yakima, Washington, used the construction handbook to create a house for themselves without RFDG assistance
Many of the project teams featured here were clearly determined to build new models of housing specific to their communities, exhibiting a high degree of innovation demonstrated in various ways, including new partnerships, innovative technologies, research, and creative financing. Some development teams reached out to establish partnerships and collaborations that became critical for their success. The Apsáalooke (Crow) Tribe partnered with the University of Colorado Boulder to develop and test an earth block house made with native earth and built by a tribal workforce. The Pinoleville Pomo Nation collaborated with many partners to achieve a prototype home and develop tribally based building codes. The Nageezi and Guadalupe homes, which the Arizona State University Stardust Center helped to design and build, are desert-appropriate homes using Navajo FlexCrete, a Navajo tribal enterprise. Many of these partnerships included a high level of analysis and research on new and appropriate materials. Straw bale homes at Northern Cheyenne are part of a larger Red Feather Development Group initiative, building super-insulated housing through all volunteer builds. The Owe’neh Bupingeh Rehabilitation Project incorporates new technologies to preserve and stabilize ancient adobe homes, with an education and research component informed by cultural leaders and homeowners. Many of these projects were built using multiple funding sources—some as many as 13. They often utilized the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) funding to creatively leverage additional resources. The Ysleta del Sur Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Pueblo Homes project was the first tribal LIHTC project in Texas, which required a high degree of partnership-building and tenacity. Penobscot succeeded in its goal to design new financing products so young families could move back to tribal land and participate in their cultural heritage.
These featured projects demonstrate that affordable, cost-effective, and healthy housing can be specific to each culture, place, and climate. Most of the projects that incorporated culturally based design strategies did so through a strong community-engagement process, meeting with various user groups, including potential residents, community members, elders, youth, and cultural leaders. In the Penobscot Nation, such meetings helped define not just the tribe’s housing needs but also its health and wellness needs, together with a stronger connection to cultural heritage. The Penobscot decided to incorporate a trails network and cultural elements as part of the site planning for their homes, to honor their river and community connections to it and to provide health benefits by encouraging walking. The Puyallup Tribe returned to its cultural housing form, the longhouse, which was reinterpreted in a contemporary context and is helping rebuild a sense of community. A primary goal of the Teekalet Village Housing project was to protect the salmon hatchery near the project, which was accomplished by specifically designing watershed protection systems from the housing site downstream. Because the project team for Owe’neh Bupingeh worked closely with many different project stakeholders, more than half the homes in the sacred and cultural core of Ohkay Owingeh have been rehabilitated by tribal members using indigenous methods and materials. The project team for Devine Legacy, which is oriented toward urban Indians in Phoenix, needed a universal approach to incorporating cultural elements, because families of many traditions would live there. To meet these challenges, the project team based its design on the ancient Hohokam culture, one of the first settled people in this area. Many project teams, such as the Diné who worked with Indigenous Community Enterprises (ICE) to develop Elder Hooghan Homes, worked directly with the homeowners to ensure the project met their needs and incorporated traditional elements, such as east-facing entries.

NHA PLANNING MANUAL

Relative to the United States overall, housing on the Navajo Nation is generally are smaller and in very poor condition, with overcrowding and limited access to utilities. The Navajo Nation population is relatively young, poor, and underemployed. A number of factors affect housing needs on the Navajo Nation, including geographic dispersal across the reservation, affordability of housing, existing housing conditions, and inventory. The 2009 Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) Housing Needs Assessment estimates a total need for 34,000 new and replacement units of housing and a need to expand 8,500 existing homes to accommodate growing families. Some 60 percent of Navajo Nation housing structures are single-family homes, 17 percent are mobile homes, and 11 percent are traditional hooghan. The remaining 12 percent are made up of multifamily attached housing units and a variety of other unit types. It is estimated that 5 percent of all children on the reservation live in housing classified simply as “available shelter,” which is defined as non-standard housing of the lowest quality. Because available shelter is comparable to tents or shacks and is not suitable shelter in extreme weather, this situation indicates a dire housing need.
The Navajo Nation has the largest land area of any tribe in the United States: more than 24 million square miles in four states—Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico—and a population of approximately 300,000 tribal members. A major goal was to help the Navajo Housing Authority (NHA) identify appropriate land for new housing while offering sustainable planning approaches for housing patterns and designs that would align with Navajo culture, regional climate, and community needs. Each chapter is required to have Chapter Land Use Plans (CLUPs) identifying land for various uses. Through the planning process, the planning team determined that these CLUPs do not identify enough
In the Navajo (Diné) way of life, the concept of “hózhóogo naasháa doo,” “walking in beauty,” is an ancient term describing a sustainable way of life, “steeped in the land, water, air, sun, and seasons.” As described in the NHA Planning Manual, “the Diné are meant to live off the land in beauty, harmony, happiness, and in the “hózhó” way of life, in balance with the natural environment.” The planning effort sought to bring this way of thinking into dialogue with tribal members in the development of a sustainable framework for designing new communities on Navajo land. There was a challenge in this process, however, given the history of the Navajo as rural people living as sheepherders in small, remote, multigenerational family clusters. Although this rural lifestyle remains the preferred way of life for many Navajo, it can conflict with other sustainability goals, such as walkable, more compact communities, less reliance on automobiles, and mitigating costly infrastructure and services to remote communities. Many Navajo now live in highly urbanized contexts, either in communities on the Navajo Nation, or off reservation in urban areas. To reach this Diné diaspora, planners will have to address both the traditional and the urban Navajo.
The master planning effort began in January 2011 at a meeting of NHA leadership, led by Chief Executive Officer Aneva Yazzie and was further developed in a visioning workshop led by the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC) in the summer of 2011. In December 2011, SNCC led an Enterprise Green Communities Charrette with NHA leadership to begin work on a sustainability standard for new housing developments. In 2012, with technical support from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Sustainable Construction in Indian Country (SCinIC) Initiative, a request for proposal was issued to develop a planning manual. Swaback Partners, pllc, was selected for the project, which was completed in the spring of 2013. The planning process was organized in three phases. Phase one: Site reconnaissance and evaluation. Phase two: Programming confirmation and refinement. Phase three: Prototypical plans and sustainable community master plans. The planning team engaged the community representatives at each phase. Extensive planning workshops and site visits took place across the entire Navajo Nation, with daylong charrettes in each of the 24 regions. These planning meetings were instrumental in getting direct, hands-on input from tribal members. Following these planning meetings, NHA requested individual meetings with each of the 110 chapters to understand its individual community needs. The process was also an opportunity to gain a better understanding of specific regional needs across Navajo Nation and how new developments across the reservation could be better coordinated and better linked to serve the communities.
Definition of Appropriate Housing Typologies: The planning process identified five different types of housing: (1) single-family detached, (2) single-family attached, (3) multigenerational homes, (4) apartments, and (5) senior living. Concepts for these building types will be developed as potential prototypes for development. Design of Demonstration Projects: The NHA is now planning to develop a series of demonstration projects on a larger scale to test the larger planning goals and sustainability strategies for implementation across the nation, in the build-out of a projected need for 34,000 homes. HUD Sustainable Construction in Indian Country Initiative (SCinIC): The HUD SCinIC technical assistance team was part of the planning process, which led to new policy recommendations that the NHA will use to carry out the goals of the master plan as well as the larger goals of fostering more sustainable communities on the Navajo Nation. The following recommendations were approved by the NHA board and are being implemented as policy: – Develop an interdisciplinary NHA design review committee to develop a Navajo sustainability standard and guide the design/planning process. – Base the Navajo sustainability standard on the national Enterprise Green Communities Criteria and implement a modified version of this standard immediately on all planned projects. – Revise the NHA request for proposal/request for qualifications selection process for design professionals to reflect sustainable/cultural goals. – Adopt a community-based design/planning process for all new development and new housing types.

GUADALUPE HOUSE

Guadalupe is a predominantly Pascua Yaqui and Mexican-American community between Phoenix and Tempe. Its residents have preserved a degree of cultural and geographic uniqueness while participating in the economic and political structures of Phoenix’s society. Many components of the home are designed to meet the standards for minimal energy usage. The outside courtyard is equipped with a shaded trellis and water fountain to keep it cool and comfortable. The courtyard additionally serves as a place for traditional large family gatherings. The carport serves as an outdoor ramada. Other cultural elements include a combined kitchen/ dining/living area, making the kitchen the heart of the home. As a multigenerational household, a separate casita serves as a room for a young adult or child. On the porch there is a specially designed niche for the Virgin of Guadalupe. PROCESS Public meetings were held to develop the design of the home, with the participation and support of the city council and mayor. Meetings were held in the town hall, which included design workshops and presentations/discussions of the design concepts. Educational presentations included information on regional and Yaqui traditions, design techniques, and case studies to respond to the desert climate. DESIGN This home was designed as a prototype for the town of Guadalupe, its climate, and its culture. The design was developed in a “kit-of-parts” workshop process with community members and the homeowners, the Bejarano family. Several key elements came out of this process, including a courtyard-style design for cross ventilation; the creation of a large shaded outdoor space for large family gatherings; the separation of the master bedroom for the elder homeowners from the bedrooms for their adult children; the inclusion of a “casita,“ a small, separate guest room for visiting family members or adult children; the capacity to expand the home upward, to add additional rooms or an apartment for the expanding family; the incorporation of a carport, both for cars and as a outdoor “ramada,” a shade structure to use for large family gatherings; and the centrality of the kitchen opening directly to the living/dining areas. This project is helping us build a dream home, but in an affordable way. We love the design of our new home and look forward to living in it as a family. – Olivia Bejarano, homeowner Photo: Michael Pyatok Drawing by ASU Star Dust GREEN This Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Homes Gold project focuses on utility reduction and low-maintenance core design principles, with a minimal cooling need and reducing heating. Sunlight is largely used in place of artificial lighting, and proper shading and orientation protect the home during summer months. Thick walls made of Navajo FlexCrete provide an insulation that maintains a balanced temperature within the home year round, reducing heating and cooling requirements. Rooftop solar panels donated by ASU’s Photovoltaic Energy Lab are expected to provide 90 percent of the home’s electrical energy needs. Other green features include a tankless water heating system, ENERGY STAR windows, and highly insulated rooftop structural panels with a non-toxic coating that reflects solar heat. The roof is also a rainwaterharvesting system that collects water for future use, with a potential savings of 5,000 gallons per year. A greywater collection system was integrated into the design for the dual-flush toilets and irrigation of the courtyard.

GOOD EARTH LODGES

The Apsáalooke Crow Tribe is located in south-central Montana and is the largest American Indian reservation in the state. Like many American Indian tribes, the Crow are a proud people with strong cultural traditions, but they are plagued with high unemployment, high poverty rates, and a shortage of adequate housing. Few opportunities are available for private enterprise or jobs on the reservation; this lack coincides with a lack of skilled workers. Problems are exacerbated by the reservation’s extreme climate, with temperatures as low as -40°F in the winter and as high as 110°F in the summer. Many tribal members live in houses that are poorly suited to the climate, racking up extremely high utility bills, as much as $500 per month in the winter. (From Crow Tribe/Good Earth Lodges by Tim Sullivan.) COMMUNITY On the Crow Indian Reservation, most of the existing houses are aged stick-frame and trailer homes. Approximately 8,000 tribal members live on the Crow Reservation. In 1997, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) identified a need for 1,040 new housing units. This need has increased to approximately 1,500 units. The BIA recorded that 370 (48 percent) of the reservation’s 1,130 housing units are in substandard condition. Although a large population of homeless people live on the reservation, they are mostly unseen because families take in members, which leads to overcrowding.

The single-family homes were designed with participation from community members who wanted a large, shared open space that combines kitchen, living, and dining into a single space, and a vaulted ceiling that would open up to the south, allowing the warm winter sun in and blocking the summer sun. This responds to the need for a large interior space for family gatherings and to the centrality of food in the Crow culture. Bedrooms are relatively small to maximize the large shared space and to provide space for storage. The homes are built using a double-wythe earth block construction technique. Each compressed earth block weighs 28 pounds. The walls of the houses are built with two rows of the 7-inch blocks, with the 4-inch space in between filled with insulation, creating an 18-inch total wall thickness. The roofs on the first seven homes were built using structural insulated panels. This technique was modified to trusses and spray-on insulation in later designs to reduce costs and simplify construction. GREEN The houses feature a passive solar design, with south-facing facades containing a trio of sliding glass doors and high windows. No windows are on the east side of the house to protect from the summer’s harsh sun. The exterior shell is primarily compressed earth block construction made of locally sourced materials and labor. Vaulted ceilings provide natural light and improve ventilation through the structure. The first seven homes have ground-source heat pumps. The current designs use standard heat pumps to reduce the cost and simplify construction

Creating a new material and a new production process while training workers in both the production of the material and its use in construction was challenging, but there is great pride in the project and the way in which Crow resources and Crow tribal members were used to construct these homes. The external collaboration between the University of Colorado Boulder and the Apsáalooke Nation Housing Authority has been embraced by all who have participated in the projects. Involvement of the university in the project has been instrumental both in providing technical and management support and also in providing continuity, as the staffing within the housing authority has continued to change due to internal challenges and changes in government during the life of the project. VISION The long-term vision in collaboration with the Division of Energy and Mineral Development is to continue to develop and enhance the tribe’s ability to identify resources that enhance its economic stability. The Good Earth Lodges project starts to achieve that vision. Historically, the focus was to extract resources on tribal lands. This project, although challenging, identifies a series of solutions for issues on the Crow Reservation, such as addressing unemployment and the need for job training, addressing the critical need for housing, and identifying resources on tribal lands that can be used in construction and tribal enterprise.

PUYALLUP TRIBE OF INDIANS | PLACE OF HIDDEN WATERS

PLACE OF HIDDEN WATERS

Located near the city of Tacoma, the project lies between a midcentury, single-family development and a forested habitat corridor. The site is 75 percent flat, giving way to a gently sloping, big leaf maple forest and dropping steeply toward the west into a seasonal creek called Julia’s Gulch. The gulch feeds into Commencement Bay via the Hylebos Waterway, which historically is one of the most productive salmon runs in the state of Washington. It was critical that the project have no negative impact on this important habitat. INNOVATION The residential buildings are sited along an east-west axis to allow for prevailing summer breezes and for passive solar heating/cooling. It was initially designed with a “solarready” roof design for future installment of a photovoltaic array (to be installed in phase two). This design, combined with the installation of ground-source heat pumps, is targeted to yield a zero-energy building. (Phase II does not use ground-source heat pumps.) DESIGN Of the three buildings in the newly developed area, two are 10-unit townhouse clusters designed to emulate the traditional Coastal Salish “longhouse” in which multiple families shared a single long building and a shared linear gathering space. The one- and two-story townhomes face a central, partially covered courtyard, with an orientation that maximizes natural light, views, and cross ventilation in every room. On the south side are five one-story, one-bedroom homes, designed for seniors or disabled residents as fully accessible units. On the north side are two-story, two-bedroom homes for small families. The shed roof is partially open to the spaces below, adding height and daylight to the homes. The newly renovated and expanded gymnasium building is located between the two developments, with new community rooms, a kitchen, and office space. A “community living room” with a gas fireplace serves as an informal meeting space for storytelling and conversation.

Resident and staff participation in the design process was a critical ingredient in the project’s success. Design workshops were held in the old gymnasium, and residents were invited to give input. Additional design meetings with maintenance and operations staff were held at the Puyallup Nation Housing Authority (PNHA) offices. Residents and staff also helped to deconstruct the abandoned youth home and clean the wooded site. LEED An integrative design process was key to the design from the beginning and also met the LEED for Homes requirements. An interdisciplinary green charrette was held at the outset, which included the full design team and PNHA staff. Agreement was made to pursue a LEED for Homes Platinum certification, if it could be achieved within the budget. This early decision helped to guide the process from the beginning and brought the design team, contractors, construction manager, and staff together to achieve this goal.

The project was managed and built by tribal members— force-account labor crews from the Puyallup Nation Housing Authority (PNHA) combined with an experienced construction manager who developed training apprenticeships. The contract documents were divided into two separate bid packages to facilitate this training component, with the community center, gymnasium, site redevelopment, and infrastructure under one contract, and the vertical construction of the housing, built by the PTHA crews, under another contract. The housing features structural insulated panel (SIP) construction, which facilitated rapid construction and assured a very tight building envelope. Tribal workers were trained in SIP/ technology and installation. The modular design allowed for the crews to learn on the first units and speed up production on the rest of the development. VISION The design evolved from concept through construction, integrating a community process in which the vision for the project came from engagement with the client and the community, with careful study of historic precedents and culture and with analysis of the site and its challenging opportunities.

YSLETA DEL SUR | LIHTC PUEBLO HOMES

LIHTC PUEBLO HOMES

In addition to full stormwater runoff retention, structural insulated panels (SIPs) provide a continuous R-23 value for thermal resistance. Openings on the western facades are kept to a minimum to control heat gain, and all windows are equipped with double-pane low-emissivity glazing, with internal blinds for reduced thermal conductivity. Plumbing fixtures are low flow, and furnaces are ENERGY STAR rated. Native and drought-tolerant landscaping was planted, using xeriscape methods to minimize irrigation. CONTEXT The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo is situated just north of Mexico along the Rio Grande. The primary reservation community is one mile northeast of the Zaragoza International border between the United States and Mexico. The land configuration is referred to as “checkerboard,” with tribal trust land and non-tribal land pieced together with non-contiguous boundaries.

OHKAY OWINGEH | OWE’NEH BUPINGEH

OWE’NEH BUPINGEH

In the past, the connected house blocks of this traditional village supported a social structure that knitted the families and clans together. Although U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) developments of the 1970s consist of suburban, single-family homes built at the outskirts of the pueblo and served a need for new housing at the time, they also contributed, with other societal changes, to a devastating decline in the language and lifeways of the people. The rehabilitation of Owe’neh Bupingeh is one strand of a broad tribal effort to rebuild the cultural traditions of the tribe by bringing families back to the historic and cultural core of the Pueblo. SITE Photo: Atkin Olshin Shade Architects Frequency of use: 2006 Drawing: Atkin Olshin Shade Architects Owe’neh Bupingeh is the historic center of Ohkay Owingeh. Four traditional plazas are surrounded by 60 extant homes and at least 20 lots on which homes previously stood. Compared with the later Spanish plazas and American squares, which are landscaped, furnished, and ornamented, the traditional earthen pueblo plazas are very sparse. Yet Owe’neh Bupingeh is the setting for ritual observances and is the tribe’s spiritual center. Several times a year, the plazas are filled with people. This project marks the start of a long process by which the traditional use and character of the historic Pueblo core will be restored through the form and appearance of the dwellings.
The project began with tribal youth who were taught to document and research the existing buildings and perform research. Elders contributed recollections of buildings no longer present and stories of their lives on the plazas. Dozens of community meetings were held to gain feedback, and the preservation plan was developed through extensive discussions with the Tribal Council and a newly formed Cultural Advisory Team. The rehabilitation principles that evolved are sometimes in conflict with federal preservation standards. However, these principles are based on Ohkay Owingeh community and cultural values, and are being implemented by construction crew members and homeowners from the tribe who, through learning traditional methods of construction, ensure that the project is culturally appropriate. GREEN As a preservation project, Owe’neh Bupingeh is inherently sustainable. The entire project team (tribe, architect, and contractor) was committed to retaining as much of each existing building as possible. Constructed by their ancestors, the earthen walls contain the breath and sweat of the Ohkay Owingeh people.
Where adobe walls were no longer structurally sound, they were taken down and ground up as the main ingredient of the new earthen plaster. In the initial phases, green design features include highly insulated roofs, insulated windows, and ENERGY STAR appliances. Phase III meets Enterprise Green Communities standards; however, it was determined that getting a HERS rating separately for each individual home would be cost prohibitive. Best Practices in Tribal Housing: Case Studies 2013 50 OWE’NEH BUPINGEH DESIGN The design of the project is rooted in, but not restrained by, the past. The existing condition of the homes in 2005 was disappointing to tribal members. Owe’neh Bupingeh still functioned as the traditional center of the tribe, but appearances were marred by extensive deterioration and by the introduction of inappropriate modern details (doors, windows, gutters, cement plaster, etc.). An analysis of more than 400 historic photos was completed, with a clear understanding that only the last 140 years of this 700-year-old place had been documented. Great changes were observed in the photos found, and while it was necessary to understand the changes during the last 150 years, a strict restoration was neither possible nor desirable. The earliest images show the pueblo at its greatest density, with the dwellings, before doors were installed, still accessed via roof hatches. These historic photos provided the tribe with the ability to determine an authentic vocabulary, distinct from other pueblos and the pueblo revival style. CULTURE Photo: Avanyu, LLC Photo: Atkin Olshin Shade Architects Photo: John Gaw Meen Collection Federal funding required meeting the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Places (Section 106). These standards are based on the notion that historic places have a “period of significance” that should guide preservation treatment. However, to Ohkay Owingeh, the present and the future are just as significant as the past, and “preservation” means sustaining an entire way of being, not just buildings. The federal standard needed to be reinterpreted in ways that afforded a meaningful discussion and prioritized local needs. Although the preservation philosophy developed by the tribe sometimes challenges federal preservation standards, these self-determined principles are culturally sustainable. Rather than return to a specific appearance from the past, the tribe has developed a process for balancing traditional building elements with contemporary amenities. PROCESS Community participation is the foundation of the project. Throughout the process, the project team worked with elders, cultural leaders, residents, and youth in defining their goals and vision. Construction and homeowner training was a high priority, resulting in 43 percent of the construction crew being from Ohkay Owingeh.
INNOVATION Ohkay Owingeh developed a comprehensive preservation plan to guide practical housing improvements according to cultural values. Planning costs were funded through traditional preservation sources, with construction funded primarily through various HUD programs, requiring a fine balance between regulatory standards in addition to the tribe’s own perspectives. The project is rooted in the preservation philosophy of Ohkay Owingeh tribal leaders, which values the life of the Pueblo and inhabitation over material conservation. The preservation technology is highly innovative, utilizing many years of material sciences field research by specialists in adobe construction. For example, the repair and reconstruction of damaged vigas (round timber beams) included boring dowels into the viga and splicing on new extensions, in order to save as much of the existing material as possible. This was an important cultural factor, as many of the vigas were “gifted” from one family to another, with initials still visible. 51 Best Practices in Tribal Housing: Case Studies 2013 OWE’NEH BUPINGEH VISION Photo: Kate Russell Dancers, photo: Guy Ambrosino This project has its roots in two previous projects at Ohkay Owingeh. Tsigo Bugeh Village is a 40-unit rental development completed in 2003 and financed with low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). It was the first modern project at the pueblo to incorporate substantial community participation, including storytelling about life in the plaza area. Immediately following was a comprehensive master plan in 2004, which won a Smart Growth Award for Small Communities and was also developed with community input. The success of these projects helped to develop capacity to rehabilitate the historic core. It also brought the community and cultural leaders to the table with the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority (OOHA) to realize their collective vision to bring elders and families back to live in the historic core. Project funding sources 57.75% U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 8% HOME Investment Partnership program .5% National Park Service 4.5% I.H.S. 25.25% American Recovery and Reinvestment Act .25% NM STATE 2.5% Tribe 1.25% Nonprofit Where does the vision actually come from for the community? It should come from the members from that community, where members always have input. – Joe Garcia LESSONS LEARNED/CONCLUSION A significant portion of the funding for the next phase of rehabilitation has been secured and the qualification process has begun. Funding thus far has been limited to low-income families, leaving many families just above low-income thresholds out of the project. OOHA established Cha Piyeh, Inc., a community development finance institution (CDFI), to provide low-interest loans to families who do not income-qualify and have no other means of participating in the project. Parcels of land on the plazas that have long been vacant have had ownership confirmed, and future phases of the project will include new construction on these sites to fill in the gaps between house blocks. Many of the other Pueblo tribes have come to visit Owe’neh Bupingeh and meet with the project team. Other groups, including the World Monuments Fund, the Getty Conservation Institute, and a delegation from Morocco, have visited to learn how culturally appropriate housing can help rebuild the strength of a community.

ELDER HOOGHAN HOMES

Indigenous Community Enterprises (ICE) expressed an interest in designing a straw bale home with a culturally relevant design. To this end and with technical assistance from the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship to explore the possibilities of traditional forms built of FlexCrete (a Navajo-owned, lightweight, energy-efficient tribal building material) and with straw bales sourced from NAPI and SIPs systems. Several rounds of workshops with future homeowners and elders were held to determine floor plan variations and how to integrate hooghan forms with other rooms and features. Three dimensional models were used so that elders could move walls and comment on their likes/dislikes among design options. CULTURE The designs and materials support traditional life in several ways. It was clear that an east entry and approach to the hooghan was important for cultural reasons. Additionally, the octagonal primary space on the interior supports ceremonial use while providing a traditional space for gatherings and ceremonies that reference the four directions. A wood burning stove has traditional as well as practical uses. INNOVATION This initiative represents a prime example of tribally staffed nonprofits producing culturally appropriate green home ownership opportunities. The Navajo hooghan, a traditional place-form, was designed and built with elder input and tribal workforce, with local and natural materials for the benefit of tribal families who wished to live in a more traditional manner. These traditional Diné hooghan plans utilized the off-grid systems, enabling elders to live in their traditional lands, even far from paved roads and power lines.
The case studies profiled here are composed of many shades of green. Some, such as Puyallup Place of Hidden Waters, Devine Legacy, Kumuhau Subdivision, and Penobscot LEED Homes, sought Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification to verify the green performance of their buildings. Others used the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, developed specifically for affordable housing. All the projects exhibit comprehensive approaches to green building—looking at project location, site design, water conservation, energy efficiency, appropriate materials, healthy indoor air quality, and long-term operations and maintenance. In most cases, cultural and economic sustainability was as high a priority as environmental sustainability. Tribal enterprise and employment are crucial to economic sustainability, and many projects incorporated new materials such as Navajo FlexCrete, earth, straw, and structural insulated panels (SIPs). Coeur d’Alene and Northern Cheyenne feature super-insulated straw bale wall systems. Passive solar design strategies are found to be cost effective. The Mescalero Apache and the Apsáalooke (Crow) Tribe projects both optimize site orientation and design to allow for passive solar and ventilation to reduce heat load in the winter months and provide protection and airflow during hot summer months. Indoor air quality is critical to protect residents’ health and can be incorporated with little additional cost. The project team for Kumuhau Subdivision worked to modify the Airscape whole house fan specifically for its project, to produce a quieter ventilation system called the Kohila fan. Many homes were built to be ready for renewable energy connections in the future. Penobscot, Kumuhau, Passamaquoddy, and Pinoleville Pomo all installed photovoltaic panels, and Puyallup installed ground source heat recovery. The Pinoleville Pomo Nation developed a tribal green building code as part of its two prototype homes project, which will positively affect future development.
These exemplary projects serve to inspire and educate others even outside of the tribal housing sphere. Several, such as the Place of Hidden Waters, Devine Legacy, and Owe’neh Bupingeh have acted as catalysts for community revitalization projects. Many are considered national and regional models. For instance, both Place of Hidden Waters and Ohkay Owingeh received the international SEED award, and have received national awards for exemplary green design and planning. The Navajo Housing Authority Sustainable Master Planning Manual may have the most potential for influencing change, with a goal to lay out a framework for sustainable planning and development for 34,000 housing units. Each project involved many partnerships, and many projects are increasing their impact by connecting housing to long-term planning and other tribal initiatives. For instance, many have incorporated training and tribal employment, which not only helps address the challenge of economic development but also acts to maximize the investment by keeping dollars local. The Owe’neh Bupingeh Rehabilitation Project was possible because the housing authority and the community already had experience with community engagement processes and a master plan that addressed land use and smart growth. The 60-unit Ysleta del Sur LIHTC Homes project and the 65-unit Devine Legacy project, the two largest projects, will positively affect many families in need of housing. Each project is a game changer: Ysleta del Sur LIHTC Pueblo Homes is the first tribal tax credit project in Texas, and Devine Legacy is the first mixed-income, transit-oriented development along the Phoenix Metro light-rail line. Similarly, the Kumuhau Subdivision, by providing 45 LEED Gold Homes, has proven that houses appropriately designed for climate can be competitive in the marketplace while providing significant utility savings for homeowners.
The projects with the most impact are typically those that leverage most or all of these best practices simultaneously: thoughtful design and site planning, green building, innovative approaches, cultural and community engagement, and consideration for the generations to come. Best Practices in Tribal Housing: Case Studies 2013 56 RESEARCH TEAM Jamie Blosser AIA, LEED AP, Founder, Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative Associate, Atkin Olshin Schade Architects Jamie Blosser, AIA, LEED AP, is the founder of the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC), and is an associate at Atkin Olshin Schade Architects in Santa Fe, New Mexico. From 2000 to 2003, Jamie was an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow at the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority. Jamie has facilitated trainings throughout the country on the importance of cultural and environmental sustainability, including recent work with Public Interest Design Institutes around the country, and at Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation in Montana, Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota, Fond du Lac Band and White Earth Nation in Minnesota, and Red Cliff Band in Wisconsin. Her work has been featured in Architectural Record, Indian Country Today, Progressive Planning, and will be included in New Architecture on Indigenous Land, a new book on contemporary Native American architecture. She has led the Case Studies 2013 project, researching and showcasing exemplary Native American housing nationwide. Jamie served on the Enterprise Green Communities technical advisory group for the 2011 Criteria, helping to develop a new tribal and rural pathway for compliance. She also has serves in a number of volunteer capacities, including project reviewer for SEED certification through Design Corps, an advisory group member of the AIA Housing Knowledge Community, and a board member for the Housing Trust of Santa Fe.
Jamie graduated with a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Nathaniel Corum Architect, Head of Education Outreach Architecture for Humanity Nathaniel Corum is an Architect and Head of Education Outreach with Architecture for Humanity (AfH). Nathaniel has worked with Indigenous Community Enterprises, Red Feather, and AfH on housing and community initiatives and to develop and research appropriate building prototypes and materials. His work has been featured in Architecture, Dwell, Wired and the New York Times. As a Senior Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) Fellow, Nathaniel researches culturally appropriate development and regenerative land use. He is an integral member of the SNCC, most recently helping to provide outreach, site visits, research, and writing on exemplary Native American housing nationwide. Nathaniel runs the AfH Pac Rim Studio, involving students of architecture in regions stretching from California to Asia to develop holistic, sustainable design solutions that respond to global design challenges. He is the recipient of an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship and is the author of Building a Straw Bale House from Princeton Architectural Press. Nathaniel holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University. His Master of Architecture from the University of Texas at Austin culminated in a Fulbright Scholarship to study architectural preservation and urban poverty issues in North Africa. Daniel J. Glenn AIA, NCARB Principal, 7 Directions Architects/Planners Daniel Glenn is an architect from the Crow Nation and the principal of 7 Directions Architects, an Indian-owned design and planning firm based in Seattle. Daniel’s design work has received national and regional recognition, including the Little Big Horn College Campus in Crow Agency, Montana; being featured in the documentary film, Aboriginal Architecture: Living Architecture; and the University of Montana’s Payne Family Native American Center in Missoula, Montana, featured in Indian Country Today Magazine. He is on the Board of Directors of Navajo FlexCrete Building Systems, a subsidiary of the Navajo Housing Authority, and is a regularly invited speaker at professional and academic conferences, including HUD Office of Native American Program events across the country.
An MIT-trained specialist in the design of green affordable housing, Daniel was the founding design director of the Arizona State University Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family in Phoenix and executive director of Environmental Works Community Design Center in Seattle. He has taught architectural design at Arizona State University, the University of Washington, Montana State University, and the Boston Architectural Center. His work will be included in New Architecture on Indigenous Land, a new book on contemporary Native American architecture. 57 Best Practices in Tribal Housing: Case Studies 2013 SUSTAINABLE NATIVE COMMUNITIES COLLABORATIVE Russell D. Kaney Director of Programs, Rural and Native American Initiative Enterprise Community Partners Russ Kaney is director of programs for the Enterprise Rural and Native American Initiative. Russ manages key developer relationships across the country on behalf of the organization.
Formerly a senior project manager for the Enterprise Community Investment syndication unit, Russ was deeply involved with transactions involving the low-income housing tax credit. Prior to joining Enterprise, Russ was an underwriter and low-income housing tax credit allocator for the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Russ also worked for an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as an underwriter and asset manager. While there, he assisted with the massive effort to reconstruct the devastated housing areas of south Florida following the destruction left by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Over the past 5 years, Russ has provided direct training and technical assistance to tribal housing organizations nationally, emphasizing the sourcing of capital and creation of housing units. Russ was a key partner in the Enterprise partnership with the American Indian Supportive Housing Initiative (AISHI). Russ is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has continued his real estate education at the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland. He also served as a U.S. Action/Peace Corps volunteer in South America. Joseph Kunkel Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority (THA)/Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative Joseph Kunkel is an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow currently working directly with the Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC), and the Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority. His most recent focus with SNCC has been to help research and showcase exemplary Native American housing nationwide, and to build and develop emerging best practices. His professional career has centered on community-based educational design. His work ranges from material research and fabrication to community-based design and planning. Prior to the Rose Fellowship, Joseph co-led the design of two public First Nations schools in Regina, Saskatchewan, and White Horse, Yukon Territory. There, Joseph helped facilitate an integrated collaborative process where students, teachers, parents, and elders worked together to create an environment designed around culturally appropriate learning. Joseph has taught, lectured, and presented on the topics of land, culture, and place. His current work in southeast Montana on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, where he is an enrolled member, focuses on the need for culturally relevant sustainable housing. This has led to the creation of the HabLab (hablab.org), partially funded by Nike, which ties sports and wellness to education and cultural heritage.
This August, HabLab will hold its third annual basketball clinic, a week-long sports and education curriculum, at Northern Cheyenne. Joseph is also working on a cultural district plan at Santo Domingo Tribe, funded by a National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) Our Town grant. Joseph received his Master of Architecture from the University of Maryland. Ed Rosenthal Vice President, Rural and Native American Initiative Enterprise Community Partner Ed Rosenthal is vice president of the Enterprise Rural and Native American Initiative. Since 2008, he has directed all of Enterprise’s rural housing development activities nationwide, with a focus on Native American and farmworker housing issues as well as rural multifamily and single-family housing preservation. Enterprise has developed more than 15,000 affordable homes in rural communities across the country with an investment of more than $800 million dollars. Previously, Ed served as director of Enterprise’s New Mexico office, where he provided a variety of financial and technical assistance tools to community development and local government organizations.
Enterprise’s New Mexico-based partners have created more than 1,500 affordable homes, many incorporating green building and planning concepts, and many specifically designed to address regional inequities in access to decent housing. Ed received his law degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he helped numerous tenant organizations convert their apartment buildings into affordable housing cooperatives. THANK YOU Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative The 2013 Case Studies research is made possible by generous support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Policy Development and Research (PD&R) Office Sustainable Construction in Indian Country grant, and the generous donation of time from our Collaborative volunteers. The Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative is a program of Enterprise Community Partners. Thank you to all the case study teams participating in the 2013 Case Studies, and special thanks to: Atkin Olshin Schade Architects Adventure Pictures ANAGR.AM Enterprise Rural and Native American Initiative Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship Enterprise Green Communities Rural and Native American Initiative www.enterprisecommunity.org Through its Enterprise Native American Program, Enterprise works with tribal and community partners to create healthy, safe, green affordable housing and to increase opportunities for economic advancement for individuals and families. Since 1997, Enterprise has invested more than $100 million in grants, loans, and equity in Native American communities and has developed more than 1,700 homes in 20 states. Nationally, Enterprise has provided training to nearly 40 tribes and tribal housing entities in financial acquisition and has worked with tribal governments to help improve regulations for increased homeownership with mortgage lenders and financial institutions. Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship www.rosefellowship.org Established in 2000, the Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship honors the late Frederick P. Rose, the prominent developer and philanthropist who believed strongly in the value of good design and the spirit of public service. Administered by Enterprise, the program has achieved dramatic results in more than 40 communities. The Fellows have contributed to more than 5,000 green affordable homes and more than 40 community facilities, living proof that the long-term financial and social viability of affordable housing depends on design excellence, sustainability, and community engagement in the development of neighborhoods. The Fellowship partners promising architects with local community development organizations for 3 years. To date, there have been three Fellowships focused in Native American communities.
Enterprise Green Communities www.greencommunitiesonline.org Enterprise Green Communities is transforming the way America thinks about, designs, builds, and rehabilitates affordable housing. Enterprise Green Communities aligns affordable housing investment strategies with environmentally responsive building practices using the Green Communities Criteria, the first national framework for healthy, efficient, environmentally smart, affordable homes. Green Communities also assists state and local governments to ensure that their housing and economic development policies are smart and sustainable. The 2011 Criteria offers three pathways for projects, based on the location of the project and surrounding development patterns. The revised criteria allow more tribal communities to participate in Green Communities.
 

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