Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Housing Authority executive director testifies during US Senate subcommittee hearing on housing drgnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from drgnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Pandemic pushes more S.D. reservation residents to seek homeownership
Nick Lowrey
South Dakota News Watch
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more Native Americans living on reservations in South Dakota to seek homeownership, a potential step toward greater family financial security and community stability in some of the state’s most impoverished regions.
But long-standing institutional, economic and geographic barriers continue to block some reservation residents from buying a home.
During the first six months of 2020, 193 people enrolled in first-time homebuyer and financial literacy classes offered by reservation-based community development groups as a prelude to buying a home. During all of 2019, 190 people enrolled in the courses, according to data collected by the South Dakota Native Homeownership Coalition.