Native American Housing:
VA Could Address Some Barriers to Participation in Direct Loan Program
GAO-02-654: Published: Aug 23, 2002. Publicly Released: Aug 23, 2002.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
- Accessible Text:
Contact:
(202) 512-8678
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
Several federal programs have been developed to provide homeownership opportunities for Native Americans because private institutions have rarely supplied conventional home loans to Native Americans on trust lands. In 1992, Congress directed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to create the Native American Veterans Direct Home Loan Program to assist veterans in purchasing, constructing and improving homes. The Native American Veterans Direct Home Loan Program has been characterized by differences in the numbers served, with native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders together receiving almost five times as many as loans as Native Americans. Several factors that apply to Native Americans, but not to native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, may explain this difference. Long-standing barriers to lending on Native American trust lands include insufficient income and credit history, a lack of meaningful interest in land among many Native Americans, and insufficient infrastructure on trust lands. Other factors that VA can address include program limits that may be lower than housing costs for some trust lands and potential applicants' inexperience with the mortgage lending process. VA has conducted outreach but has taken limited steps to meet the assessment and reporting requirements specified in the program's authorizing legislation. VA attends housing conferences, distributes promotional materials, and responds to inquiries about the program to meet outreach requirements specified in its authorizing legislation.
Recommendations for Executive Action
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: VA completed a study comparing average guaranteed loan amounts in areas contiguous to Federal Trust Land to the $80,000 limit currently in place. While VA continues to increase loan limits upon request by tribal authorities, no other action is being taken because pending legislation (H.R. 1773) would index maximum loan amounts to the limits for conventional loans in the secondary market.
Recommendation: To increase opportunities for participation for all Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander veterans, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct regional loan centers to obtain local housing cost data for trust lands to determine the need for exceptions to the current loan limit. Additional exceptions should be granted if the data support such increases.
Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: Based on FY 2005 training and outreach contacts, VA has been exploring partnerships with local housing-related organizations.
Recommendation: To increase opportunities for participation for all Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander veterans, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should explore partnerships with local housing organizations, such as One-Stop Mortgage Centers, that assist and support Native Americans on trust lands with the mortgage lending process.
Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: On March 15, 2006 VA reported to Congress on the status of the Native American Veterans Housing Loan Program. This report included a section on program outreach that (1) detailed outreach activities,(2) reported four new Memorandum of Understanding with tribes entered into during FY 2005 (for a total or 74), and (3) discussed obstacles to program utilization. The report also included a section on eligible participants that reported the latest avaiable data from the 2000 census. While the program faces many obstacles outside the contral of the VA including questions about trust land title and generally low income among eligible native american veterans VA's action reasonably implements our recommendation that VA assess outreach and report to Congress as required by the program's authorizing legislation.
Recommendation: To increase opportunities for participation for all Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander veterans, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should assess program outreach efforts to Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander veterans and report on this assessment to Congress, as the program's authorizing legislation directs.
Agency Affected: Department of Veterans Affairs
Explore the full database of GAO's Open Recommendations
»
Jan 14, 2021
-
Prescription Drugs:
Department of Veterans Affairs Paid About Half as Much as Medicare Part D for Selected Drugs in 2017GAO-21-111: Published: Dec 15, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 14, 2021.
Dec 10, 2020
-
VA Construction:
VA Should Enhance the Lessons-Learned Process for Its Real-Property Donation Pilot ProgramGAO-21-133: Published: Dec 10, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 10, 2020.
Dec 9, 2020
-
VA Disability Benefits:
Process for Identifying Conditions Presumed to be Service Connected and Challenges in Processing Complex Gulf War Illness ClaimsGAO-21-253T: Published: Dec 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 9, 2020.
Nov 12, 2020
-
Veterans Health Care:
Agency Efforts to Provide and Study Prosthetics for Small but Growing Female Veteran PopulationGAO-21-60: Published: Nov 12, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 12, 2020.
Sep 30, 2020
-
VA Health Care:
Additional Steps Could Help Improve Community Care Budget EstimatesGAO-20-669: Published: Sep 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 30, 2020. -
Veterans Community Care Program:
Improvements Needed to Help Ensure Timely Access to CareGAO-20-721T: Published: Sep 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 30, 2020.
Sep 28, 2020
-
Veterans Community Care Program:
Improvements Needed to Help Ensure Timely Access to CareGAO-20-643: Published: Sep 28, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 28, 2020.
Sep 21, 2020
-
VA Disability Benefits:
VA Should Continue to Improve Access to Quality Disability Medical Exams for Veterans Living AbroadGAO-20-620: Published: Sep 21, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 21, 2020.
Sep 16, 2020
-
VA Acquisition Management:
COVID-19 Response Strains Supply Chain While Modernization Delays ContinueGAO-20-716T: Published: Sep 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 16, 2020.
Sep 9, 2020
-
Veteran Suicide:
VA Needs Accurate Data and Comprehensive Analyses to Better Understand On-Campus SuicidesGAO-20-664: Published: Sep 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 9, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here