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Rocky Boy gets flood-mold repair grant

The Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation is getting some extra help recovering from flooding earlier in the decade, as new flooding is bringing the federal government back to the region to look at damage from a storm in August.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development announced the Chippewa Cree Tribe was one of the recipients of its Indian Community Development Block Grant Program awards this year to improve housing in Indian Country.

That occurred as President Barack Obama Thursday declared a disaster in several counties and entities including Blaine County and Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

The $400,000 Rocky Boy grant is part of $4 million of awards to six Indian entities in Montana.

“These grants will create better housing, spur economic development and support self-determination in Native American communities,” HUD Secretary Julián Castro said in a press release announcing grant recipients. “ICDBG funds are an important investment in the remote and low-income tribal communities that need it most. Through this work, we’re proud to help our tribal partners expand opportunity in their community by determining on their own, not from Washington, which local projects meet their needs and strengthen their future.”

HUD awarded $400,000 to Rocky Boy to remediate mold in at least 15 residences on the reservation.

This is the first year ICDBG funds are being administered in a program to remediate and prevent mold in housing units owned or operated by tribes and tribally designated housing entities, the release said.

Mold problems in Rocky Boy residences were exacerbated by flooding, particularly in 2010 and 2011. Floods at the reservation and in Hill and Chouteau counties were declared federal disasters in those years and in 2013, as well as for Blaine County and Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in 2011 and 2013.

Gov. Steve Bullock issued a state disaster declaration Sept. 3 that included Fort Belknap for heavy rains in late August, and Obama Thursday approved his request for a federal declaration including Fort Belknap and Blaine County.

Along with Rocky Boy receiving HUD mold remediation money, the Blackfeet Nation also received a $400,000 grand for mold remediation along with HUD awarding its housing authority a $1.1 million grant to rehabilitate 24 low-rent housing units in the Browning and Heart Butte.

Other HUD ICDBG awards were $480,951 to the Crow Tribe to rehabilitate 32 single family homes; $900,000 to the Northern Cheyenne Housing Authority to rehabilitate 27 housing units occupied by very low-income families and elders who do not have the financial resources to renovate the homes themselves; and $750,000 to The Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority on the Flathead Indian Reservation to rehabilitate owner-occupied housing units in varying combinations of bedrooms for low- and moderate-income homeowners in order to bring these homes up to standard condition and to improve energy efficiency.

“The Indian Community Development funds will help Native tribes offer community-driven solutions to affordable housing, infrastructure, and economic development challenges faced by the most vulnerable populations of their communities,” HUD Rocky Mountain Regional Administrator Rick M. Garcia said in the release.

 

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