About the Organization
Founded in 1995 as an organization devoted to housing the homeless and elderly American Indian population, Red Feather now takes a more holistic approach to its home construction activities. Beginning in 1998, Red Feather implemented the American Indian Sustainable Housing Initiative to incorporate sustainable construction methods with hands-on training for tribal members. Red Feather identifies interested tribal trades people who want to learn straw bale construction themselves as one solution to the dire need for affordable housing. Today, our approach includes strategic planning with tribal housing authorities, financial literacy training, sustainable construction methods training, design assistance, pre-and post-construction homebuyer education, and straw bale home construction.
In late 2002, Red Feather evaluated the effectiveness of the Initiative. We had hoped that through our home building projects and straw bale construction seminars that construction skills would be transferred and tribal members would begin to replicate the process, building straw bale homes for themselves. What we found was that the idea was very popular; communities even planned whole developments around straw bale construction, but implementation was not occurring.
Red Feather Executive Director Robert Young summarized that evaluation, “Our efforts have made us keenly aware that infrequent, random acts of intervention will not achieve the results we seek and what is so desperately needed on the reservations. In order to achieve real systemic change, we must limit the scope of our program and employ a sustained, focused effort within designated reservation communities.”
Therefore, in 2003, Red Feather increased its capacity and laid the groundwork for long-term focused housing strategies within particular reservation communities. We have initiated community meetings and financial literacy seminars in Busby, Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Montana, and have begun the same process in Hotevilla, Hopi Reservation, Arizona, commencing with this April’s model straw bale home for a Hopi tribal elder. With two certified homeownership counselors on staff, Red Feather can now counsel potential homebuyers through the entire process including repairing credit, budgeting, exploring mortgage options, applying for a home loan, training homebuyers on construction methods, building the home and protecting that investment.
Only after individuals and home sites are identified can Red Feather begin the work that has become synonymous with its name: affordable straw bale home construction.
Description of the problem
Of the 2.5 million tribal members living on American Indian reservations, nearly 300,000 are homeless. Hundreds of thousands more live in over-crowded, substandard conditions, many without running water or electricity. The current approach of US and tribal governments creates no sense of pride of ownership and fails to empower or facilitate long-term change in Indian communities. As a result, generations of government control have created dependency on programs that fail to meet community needs. This combination of inadequate housing, lack of community infrastructure and failing government programs quickly erodes communities, families and individuals: poverty and unemployment twice the national average; consistently lower educational success than the national norm; alcohol-related mortality rates triple the national average. To position the crisis facing American Indian reservations today, we have included current American Indian housing and health statistics. The following statistics were taken from the US Department of Housing and Urban Developments most recent Assessment of American Indian Housing Needs and Programs Final Report:
Homeless-333,000
Severe Overcrowding-793,000
Substandard Housing-678,000
Add these figures together and you will see these numbers add up to 70 percent of our reservation residents. Imagine if three out every five people you saw on the street were either homeless or living in overcrowded conditions, many without running water or electricity.
At the same time, the cultures of these communities are resilient, the pride in the history of the American Indian nations is evident, and the commitment to family and community is strong. These communities lack only the support for building not only houses but strong community based organizations that will help families move toward housing self-sufficiency.
Description of the project / solution
In order to reverse the cycles of poverty on reservations, systemic changes must occur both on and off the reservation. Through the American Indian Sustainable Housing Initiative, Red Feather teaches tribal members broad-based solutions to the housing crisis using plentiful resources: wheat straw and people. Tribal members are involved at every step from planning through implementation. A series of financial literacy meetings are held to identify mortgage ready, but low-income families. Tribal members are referred to resources to help them become mortgage ready should they be in debt or have bad credit history.
Then, Red Feather begins straw bale construction clinics, sustainable construction educational seminars, and hands-on, volunteer friendly straw bale home construction where tribal families play an integral role in the construction of their own homes. In order to improve the technical skills of each participant, the process is repeated with each new home, strengthening each participant’s skills. As tribal members work together toward a common goal, whole communities are empowered while strong, beautiful, super-insulated affordable straw bale homes are built.
Red Feather’s Indigenous Builders Exchange Program provides specialized training to tribal members in sustainable construction skills, while facilitating a dialogue between members of several tribes, and between tribal members and Red Feather volunteers from around the world.
Red Feather’s strategy has grown to include organizational and community building strategies. In each of our partner communities, Red Feather works with a local community advisory group, teaching the basics of establishing and running a non-profit housing organization. The Red Feather goal is a program transfer: to work alongside our tribal partners until they can run a self-sufficient housing organization. Those partners will then work next to Red Feather as we teach these same skills to still another indigenous community
