UKB wins $250,000 housing grant for tribal elders

By Staff Reports

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma has a housing shortage. This grant will build two homes for tribal elders.

The $250,000 comes through the Native American Housing Initiatives Grants Program, administered by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka — a regional bank in Kansas — through Sovereign Bank, a community bank owned by the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. It’s not a federal housing appropriation. It’s not formula money. It’s a competitive grant from a voluntary program that FHLBank Topeka funds out of its annual income. The UKB applied, competed against tribes across four states, and won.

Oklahoma Voice reported Richard Vann, with the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma housing department, said what the grant means: “We desperately need it in our area, especially for our elders.” The two homes, combined with another elder and veteran housing project the tribe already has in motion, will help address the shortage.

The tribe applied for it, competed for it, and won it. Two homes for tribal elders.