Home ownership rates are low among Native Americans.
But efforts to change are succeeding.
Prosperity Now is a nonprofit that studies homeownership rates. It says 73 percent of white South Dakotans are homeowners. But only 37 percent of Native Americans in the state own homes.
Reservations include land held in trust by the government. That means some of the land cannot be bought and sold by tribal members.
Shayna Ferguson is the manager and loan officer for the Lakota Federal Credit Union on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She says it’s challenging for residents to secure loans.
“That’s just the reality. Nobody wants to come to the reservation and finance here because they can’t secure the land. They think it’s a risk while in reality it’s just like everywhere else.”
Outside lenders choose to avoid reservations. But the Lakota Federal Credit Union started issuing mortgage loans last year. The credit union works with tribal members even if the land under a house is held in trust.
Ferguson says the loans are making a positive impact.
“Word of mouth is huge on the reservation. I think that people will see the impact that the credit union is having being able to loan money for purchasing a home or renovating homes for doing new construction. And your neighbor is going to see it and it’s going to go from there. It’s going to start like wildfire, I’m really excited for 2021.”
The South Dakota Native American Homeownership Coalition works to increase home ownership among Native people. Elias Mendoza is the program director. He says another reason for the rise in homeownership is rooted in the pandemic.
“We were all forced basically to stay home. So, it gave us more time to think about homeownership and it also allowed more time to follow through with the process.”
The coalition says the number of new Native American homeowners jumped from 30 in 2019 to 54 in 2020.