money Over $1.6 million in federal funding planned for Suquamish tribe's housing project
The Suquamish Tribe's affordable housing project is on track to receive federal funding to build 20 townhomes on a parcel reacquired by the tribe in recent years after decades of leasing the land to non-tribal members.
The House Appropriations Committee on June 30 advanced new funding of over $1.6 million in an appropriations bill, championed by Rep. Derek Kilmer, who represents Washington's Sixth District, to support the tribe's Enetai project on the Port Madison Indian Reservation. The project aims to help ease the housing crisis on the reservation, according to a statement released by Rep. Kilmer's office.
About 20 townhomes would be built on a parcel known as Suquamish Shores. The tribe regained the parcel in 2018 after a 50-year lease with a non-tribal developer, Chief Seattle Properties, ended in May that year. The area was the site of a former community center of the tribe and the Enetai project is set to further enhance the progress that the tribe has made to rebuild the area, according to the statement.
Rep. Kilmer submitted funding requests for the project through a process known as community project funding, to be included in appropriations bill for fiscal year 2023, according to the statement. The funding, along with $2.2 million for the Skokomish Tribe to build roads, sidewalks, utilities, and other infrastructure to develop 20 acres of tribal trust land into buildable lots for new housing. The request by the House Appropriations Committee must next be approved by Congress before the money is distributed.
The Suquamish Tribe recognized Rep. Kilmer's work to include the project in the bill, Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman said in a statement.
“This project will help address the housing crisis on and surrounding our Reservation by creating affordable housing opportunities. Our tribal citizens deserve and should be able to live on their ancestral homelands,” Forsman said.
The statement from Kilmer said the representative will keep working to get the funding signed into law.
“Across our region, we need more affordable housing – including for Native communities,” Kilmer said in the statement. “These projects will not only help ensure more Tribal members can return to their ancestral homelands, but also help ease housing challenges for non-Tribal citizens that live nearby these reservations. These investments are win-wins for our region."
Reach breaking news reporter Peiyu Lin at pei-yu.lin@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter @peiyulintw.
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This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Over $1.6 million in federal funding for Suquamish tribal housing
