Smoke Signals
March 3, 1995
Page 5
Housing
Housing
For those of you who missed the
announcement in the last newslet
ter, the completed Grand Ronde
Tribal Housing Needs Assessment
Executive Summary Report is now
available at no charge to tribal
members. This report presents an
analysis of the findings from the
recent housing survey.
As a convenience we will be
printing the entire summary report
in the Smoke Signals in three parts,
beginning in this issue The first
section of the report, which is in
cluded here, explains the back
ground, purpose and method, and
goes to present information on bar
riers to affordable housing and
tribal members' housing needs.
In the next issue, we will present
housing preferences, as well as the
level of interest in moving to the
Grand Ronde area. The last sec
tion of he report includes a frame
work and recommendations by the
consultant, MLP Associates, Inc.,
for developing a 20-Year Housing
Plan for the Tribe.
Background
The Confederated Tribes
of The Grand Ronde has recently
had its 11 -year anniversary of
Restoration. The focus of the
Tribal Council during these eleven
years has been on establishing a
tribal organization, long-run en
dowments for its operation and
services, and a community center
in Grand Ronde. The Council is
now moving to the next phase of
Tribal development. Planned
developments by the Tribe include
a gaming center and other eco
nomic enterprises.
The Grand Ronde Tribe
faces a number of opportunities
and challenges at this time. The
new gaming facility will provide
revenue and economic develop
ment opportunities that will impact
every area of Tribal services.
Further, the recently completed
strategic plan provides detailed
information concerning Tribal de
velopment and services.
As part of the Tribe's
long-range planning, the Tribe has
recognized the importance of
evaluating current and future
housing needs of Tribal members.
One of the preliminary findings
publishes
from the Tribe's strategic planning
process (i.e., Tribal member sur
vey and community meetings) has
been the desire on the part of the
Tribal members for housing assis
tance programs.
Recognizing the need for
a more specific analysis of the
housing needs of Tribal members,
the Grand Ronde Tribe contracted
with MLP Associates, a planning
consulting firm based in Eugene,
to conduct an analysis of Tribal
member's housing needs.
Purpose & Method
The purpose of this report
is to identify Tribal members'
housing needs. To do this we
analyzed the demographic, social,
and economic characteristics of
Tribal households. The primary
research method for this project
was the Tribal Housing Needs
Assessment Survey. We distrib
uted the survey by mail to every
Tribal household in October 1994.
Of the 1 ,440 surveys sent,
we received 559 completed sur
veys - a 39 percent response rate.
Based on the population of Tribal
households, this response rate
allows us to infer the survey results
to the entire population of Tribal
households at 95 percent confi
dence interval at a plus or minus
four percent margin of error. What
this means is that 95 out of 100
times the results will be within four
percent of the actual characteristic
being measured.
Barriers to Affordable Housing
Many Tribal members
may desire to improve their
housing situation but can't due to a
variety of factors. The data clearly
indicate that money is the primary
Table S-1. Persons Per
Persons Per Room ;H
0.50 or less
0.51 to 1.00
1.01 to 1.50
1.51 to 2.00
2.01 or more
Total
Crowded Households
Needs Assessment
barrier to many Tribal households'
efforts and desires to improve their
housing situation. Over one-half
of the respondents cited multiple
factors that present barriers to
better housing. The majority of
these were combinations of finan
cial factors. Further, renters are
much more likely to experience
barriers than owners.
Overall, about 3 1 percent of the
respondents indicated they do not
want to move. Not surprisingly,
desire to move varies considerably
between renters and owners. Nearly
50 percent of homeowners indi
cated they do not want to move
compared to only 10 percent of
renters.
For those Tribal households who
do want to move, over 50 percent
stated that housing costs are too
high. Over one-third cited the
costs of moving, while nearly 25
percent cited location and other
debts. Overall, four of the top six
barriers are financially-related.
Renters face more housing
barriers than owners. Nearly 72
percent of renters stated that
housing costs are too high,
compared to 32 percent of owners.
Fifty-four percent of renters indi
cated the cost of moving was a
barrier compared to 19 percent of
owners. Nearly 37 percent of
renters stated other debts were a
barrier.
Down payments and closing
costs are the primary barrier to
home ownership for Tribal house
holds. Over two-thirds of the
households with financial need
indicated this was a problem. For
those individuals who prefer to
own, about 61 percent cited this as
a barrier. This figure increases to
83 percent of households who
Room Per Housing Unit
Rentere
Number Percent
Owners
Number Percent
78 37.5 150 54.0 240 46.2
99 47.6 113 40.6 229 44.0
24 11.5 11 4.0 39 7.5
5 2.4 4 1.4 10 1.9
2 1.0 0 0.0 2 0.4
208 100.0 278 100.0 520 100.0
31 14.9 15 5.4 51 9.8
would prefer to own but can't
afford it.
Forty percent of the respondents
who cited costs as a barrier
indicated they were unable to
qualify for a loan because of their
credit history. Two-thirds of the
households that prefer to own cited
this as a barrier. Other barriers
include indebtedness, payments,
interest, taxes, and insurance
(PITI), and other costs.
Tribal Member Housing Needs
By any measure, the
housing needs of Tribal members
are significant. Although many
housing policies and programs
exist that Tribal members could
potentially use to meet housing
needs, a comprehensive housing
strategy has not been developed by
the Tribe. This report is the first
step in developing the Tribal
housing program. The following
sections summarize Tribal
member's housing needs.
Housing Condition
A number of facts about
the current condition of Tribal
members' dwellings indicate that
Tribal members' need for safe and
decent housing is not always met.
A summary of key housing
condition indicators is provided
below.
About 53 percent of the respon
dents own a home, 41 percent rent,
and 6 percent occupy their dwell
ings without payments. By
comparison, the national home
ownership rate is 64 percent; in
Oregon it is 65 percent.
About 53 percent of Tribal
members live in structures built
before 1940. This is roughly
comparable to the U.S. average
;; ; Total :. .
Number Percent
findings
the median year built for U.S.
dwcllT.gs in 1990 was 1965.
Renters arc more likely to live in
older dwellings than owners.
Over 20 percent of the respon
dents stated they were currently
sharing housing with someone else
in order to afford it.
Nearly 40 percent of the
respondents indicated their hous
ing was either in fair or poor
condition. Thirty percent rated the
overall condition of their housing
as in fair condition, while 10
percent indicated their housing
was in poor condition.
Survey respondents indicated a
number of problems with respect
to the condition of various ele
ments of their housing. Insulation,
windows, exterior sidingpaint,
and heating systems were the
elements reported to be most in
need of repair in respondents'
homes.
Overcrowding
Overcrowding is another com
mon measure of housing need. A
dwelling unit is considered "over
crowded" if the household has
more than one person per room in
the dwelling. Spaces such as
bathrooms, hallways, walk-in clos
ets, storage rooms, and similar
spaces are not included for the
purposes of this evaluation.
Table S-1 shows persons
per room per housing unit for all
respondents, renters, and owners.
The data indicate that nearly 10
percent of Tribal households
experience crowded conditions.
This figure increases to nearly 15
percent for renters. Only five
percent of owners experience
crowding.
Housing Affordahility and Fi
nancial Needs
Financial needs may be
measured through a variety of
indicators With respect to
housing, the number of individuals
below the poverty level, the
nuiiibcr of households considered
low-and very low-income, and the
number of households experienc
ing :ost bi rden can all serve as
indicators c i housing need.
(Continued on page 6)