Fort Hall Housing Authority
FORT HALL — On July 1, HUD notified the Fort Hall Housing Authority they were awarded $900,000 under the Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) Imminent Threat program and it will be used to help prevent, prepare and respond to COVID-19 in the community.
These funds are to help address problems that pose an imminent threat to public health or safety of Tribal residents according to a FHHA press release.
The Fort Hall Housing Authority applied for this grant on June 1 to prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal was to develop new housing construction of 10 tiny homes to be used for temporary lodging for families to quarantine, shelter-in-place, and to address over-crowding on trust land on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.
According to Lorraine Shay, Director of the Fort Hall Housing Authority, the grant had limited eligible use of activities and the Housing Board of Commissioners determined that the best use of funds would be to build units because of the shortage of rental units on the Reservation and no place to quarantine persons needing to be isolated.
Housing Board of Commissioners are Miranda Dixey, Chemille Fisher, Dustin Davis, Carlee Osborne and Kevin Callahan. Shay also said because of the limited time to prepare and submit the grant, she was grateful for the support of the Tribal Council because of the required documents they had to approve.
A timeline and location of the homes hasn’t yet been determined.