Tester Secures Resources to Improve Affordable Housing for Blackfeet Families

Senator Announces Critical Funding After Meeting with Housing Secretary in Indian Country

(U.S. Senate) – Senator Jon Tester has secured more than half a million dollars for the Blackfeet Housing Authority to help renovate dozens of low-income, affordable rental homes across the reservation.

This funding comes just weeks after Tester met with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson in Indian Country.

“Housing is critical to every community,” said Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. “Access to safe housing provides families with the foundation they need to launch a successful career and help grow our economy. I proudly fought for these resources because this investment will strengthen opportunities for Assiniboine and Sioux families.”

Tester secured this funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) initiative.

“Since receiving the first ICDBG in 2013, Blackfeet Housing has renovated 100 + homes that were in dire need of renovation, many of which were substandard,” said Chancy C. Kittson, Executive Director of the Blackfeet Housing Authority. “The Indian Community Development Block Grant program is vital to the continued success of Blackfeet Housing and we greatly appreciate Senator Tester for his ongoing support of Indian housing.”

Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, has long been a champion for Indian Country in the Senate. Earlier this week, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee unanimously passed Tester’s bipartisan Tribal HUD-VASH Act, which will renew a joint tribal housing program that provides rental and housing assistance to Native American veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.