I grew up in Dulce, New Mexico, the sole municipality within the boundaries of the Jicarilla Apache reservation. That experience offered me a rich cultural background and a strong sense of place and family. There are a multitude of issues that plague the community on the reservation that need to be recognized. One such issue is that of housing, specifically the areas of housing quality and availability.
I categorize the availability of housing on the reservation as grossly inadequate and the general quality of existing homes as substandard and inefficient overall. I conducted a survey of various tribal members, including directors of the various housing departments in Dulce, and the results formed a noticeable trend. Most people surveyed felt housing quality was poor, while a couple people said that housing quality depended on whether the family was living in a HUD home (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development), mobile home, or personally built home, and how recently the home was built. Every single person surveyed felt housing availability on the reservation was inadequate and an issue in need of a strong footed solution. Former employee of the Jicarilla Utility Authority, Sashiin Vicenti, who oversaw the installation and integration of a neighborhoods-worth of new modular homes into the community, described the problems with the new housing as follows:
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| One of the Newer Houses |
“Everything that could possibly go wrong did. The houses were literally falling apart before our eyes. During a period [the manufacturing company] called settling, the poorly constructed foundation caused the walls to start tearing apart, and there were cracks in the floors and ceilings as well. The plumbing wasn’t sealed properly […] some of the sinks didn’t run, there would be no heating in one room, and excessive heat in another, condensation would accumulate and mold would start growing. On top of all of that, they built the homes on shale, which lead to additional leaning and breaking of the structures overtime.” (Vicenti)
She provides valuable insight into the living conditions in the newest housing options available to tribal members on the reservation; conditions that would be worthy of a lawsuit in any other community, but have become commonplace on the reservation.
George H. Cortelyou, writer for the Seton Hall Legislative Journal, puts it this way, “Many reservations resemble Third World nations, because unemployment, economic depression, and inadequate housing produce conditions that few non-Indians experience.”
George offers a dramatic, and eye-opening view of the situation. The unique economic situation of reservation communities demands a solution that will meet the needs of the primarily low-income population.
A solution to the problem of housing availability and quality, which is inherently includes the standard of living of the Jicarilla Apache people, should be approached in a manner which addresses the underlying and superficial problems, and approaches them in a multifaceted way.
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| Mobile Homes in Town |
We could move toward a building practice that owned, operated, and maintained by tribal members. This will not only provide the community with additional high-quality housing options, more jobs, independence from third-party builders who may have ulterior motives, and solidarity through self-sufficiency. Although informed, well-designed investments are essential, education is another key component to the solution. If we also invest time in effort into the education of our laborers, we have the potential to create a more sophisticated workforce that can fill the spaces of the outsourced contractors and builders. If we create specialists with a strong background in sustainable building practices, we will no longer have to put money into the hands of private corporations whose priorities lie in financial gain, rather than the well-being of the Apache people. Educating our workforce directly feeds our local economy, which in turn directly complements the sovereignty of the nation.
This is a very ambitious approach to tackling the issue. Something far more reasonable would be to start smaller and create a branch of the Department of Energy Weatherization Assistance Program in the community to help identify and address areas of energy inefficiency.
There are numerous ways the community could benefit from home weatherization. The most obvious is money saved on heating and cooling bills, which keeps more of the consumer’s hard earned money in their pockets. There are also potential health benefits to be seen by residential home weatherization. Proper sealing and adequate ventilation will help to minimize mold growth and minimize flow of allergens into the home, which promotes a healthy respiratory system. Another potential positive outcome would be the benefits seen by the environment. A properly weatherized home will inherently consume less energy as less energy is being wasted to compensate for heat or cool air being lost through air infiltration. The less energy we use today, the more energy we conserve for the use of future generations.
Until larger socioeconomic issues can be tackled, I believe retrofitting current structures to meet national standards of energy efficiency is a great first step in addressing the housing problem. Not only will it help to reduce energy costs, it will help to improve the quality of life of the community members. We have the potential to create a community not dependent on outside sources for prosperity.
For more information on the Jicarilla Apache Nation visit JicarillaOnline.com
Photographs courtesy of Cougar Vigil
Sources
“2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia.” THE 2009 HHS Poverty Guidelines: One Version of the [U.S.] Federal Poverty Measure. aspe.hhs.gov: 10 April 2010. Web. 6 July 2010.
http://indoorenergy.com/home_weatherization/home-weatherization-the-basics-and-its-advantages
Cortelyou, George H. “An Attempted Revolution in Native American Housing: The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act.” Seton Hall Legislative Journal: Vol. 25, No. 2, 2001. Web. 4 July 2010.
“Bricklayer – US National Averages.” Salary Wizard. Salary.com: July 2010. Web. 5 July 2010.
“Census 2000 American Indian Alaska Native Summary File: Jicarilla Apache Alone.” American FactFinder. Census.gov. 6 July 2010. Web. 6 July 2010.
Manwell, Lisa. Telephone interview. 6 July 2010.
Muniz, Tywla. Personal interview. 1 July 2010.
Pesata, Melanie. Phone interview. 6 July 2010.
Quintana, Valencia. Telephone interview. 6 July 2010.
Valdez, Shane. Telephone interview. 6 July 2010.
Vicenti, Sashiin. Personal interview. 30 June 2010.
About the Author:Anne Pesata is an intern from Fort Lewis College where she is currently a senior pursuing an Environmental Policy degree and a Peace and Conflict Studies minor. Originally from northern New Mexico, she has been living in Durango for the past four years with her son, who is now 5-years-old. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and analog photography.
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