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http://www.abqjournal.com:80/news/18news01-26-00.htm
Wednesday, January 26, 2000

Pueblo's New Housing

By Morgan Lee
Journal Staff Writer

SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO -- Twenty-year-old Theodor Davila of
San Ildefonso Pueblo last week moved into a new, publicly
funded three-bedroom house with a view of the pueblo's landmark
Black Mesa.

Located on an unnamed street at this pueblo of 620 people, the
house allowed Davila, a concessions worker at the Cities of Gold
Casino at Pojoaque, to move out of her parents' home to live with
her husband and a 2-year-old daughter.

Pueblo Gov. Perry Martinez visited Pajarito West on Tuesday and
said the new houses provided overdue relief, taking pressure off a
long waiting list of families searching for their own homes.

"These may be the last homes we get for (a long time)," Martinez
said.

About 25 to 30 families remain on the tribe's waiting list,
according to, Gwendolyn Montowine San Ildefonso Housing
coordinator.

The subdivision of rental homes, circled by a chain link fence and
landscaped with gravel, bushes and boulders, is dubbed Pajarito
West. The name comes from the nearby Pajarito publicly funded
homes off N.M. 30 that date back to the 1970s.

Although its wood-framed houses set on concrete slabs are
brand-new, Pajarito West already is a vestige of the past.

"It's the last of the old-time Housing and Urban Development
projects," said Terry Hudson, executive director of the Northern
Pueblos Housing Authority.

The $5 million project, which also included 20 houses at Nambé
Pueblo, was commissioned with a single federal grant issued before
the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act of 1996
replaced the U.S. Housing Act of 1937.

The 1996 act gave participating tribes that file long-range housing
plans more discretion over how to allocate funds.

The new law was designed to let tribes -- and not the federal
government -- decide where to focus attention, be it on existing
housing, new home ownership, rental properties, demolition, drug
elimination or safety and security.

The Northern Pueblo Housing Authority's next building project, at
Picuris Pueblo, is funded by a combination of federal block grants
and the sale of low-income housing credits.

Picuris Pueblo receives $125,000 a year in block grants, and the
housing authority recently helped sell 10 years worth of low-income
tax credits worth $146,000 a year, collecting 75 cents on the dollar,
Hudson said.

The housing authority, which works with four northern pueblos,
plans to break ground in April on 16 houses at Picuris.

The Northern Pueblo Housing Authority is entering a new federal
housing era that remains dogged by old problems.

A former chairman of the housing authority, Jose Santiago "Jimmy"
Viarrial was replaced in 1996 after a Seattle Times story reported
that public funds were used to remodel his five-bedroom home,
no-bid contracts were awarded to builders said to be friends of
Viarrial and preferences for Indian-owned firms were side-stepped.

More recently, an audit published on Sept. 8 by HUD found the
authority was failing to ensure fair and open competition for
construction contracts. The audit also found ineffective enforcement
of contracts, so that overpayments and questionable payments were
made, as well as abuse of travel funds and a failure to prudently
invest excess funds.

The author of the report, C. Raphael Mecham, administrator of
the Southwest Office of Native American Programs, said this week
that "we're working with the housing authority to resolve the audit."

He declined to discuss that work in greater detail, referring
questions to Washington offices.

Hudson said another HUD audit is expected in April and that a
private audit has been commissioned.

Hudson said the authority is working to change its ways with help
from a new cast of employees.

Planning and investments officer James Roybal, a former budget
and grants officer with the New Mexico Supreme Court and planner
with the city of Santa Fe, joined the authority in December.

Dorothy Brewer of San Ildefonso was hired as director of
personnel and human resources.

Hudson joined the Northern Pueblos Housing Authority 11/2
years ago, departed for several months, and returned recently as the
executive director.

"We hope to have all of the funding (issues) cleared up before the
end of the year," Hudson said.

Skidmore Contracting Corp. of Mesa, Ariz., a Native American
owned business, built the houses at Pajarito West. The authority
now gives a 9 percent preference to Native American bids on
construction projects, up from 7 percent a few years ago, according
to Hudson.

The bidding preference means that a bid from a Native American
business can be up to 9 percent greater than a bid by a non-Native
American company and still win the contract.

San Ildefonso Tribal Housing Commissioner Leon Roybal -- no
relation to James Roybal -- said residents were chosen for the new
subdivision according to the length of time they have waited and the
size of the family.

Roybal said his brother's family, including two sons, will live at the
subdivision.

Residents at Pajarito are charged a maximum of 30 percent of
their income for rent.
 

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