Title 25 › Chapter 43— NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION › Subchapter III— ALLOCATION OF GRANT AMOUNTS › § 4152
The Secretary must write rules, within the 12-month period beginning on October 26, 1996, that set a formula to divide each year’s block grant money among Indian tribes. The Secretary must hire an expert group, working with tribes, to check existing housing and population data and to create ways to collect any missing data. Money can be appropriated as needed to do this and may remain available until spent. The formula must use measures that show each tribe’s need for affordable housing help. Key measures include the number of low-income housing units built under the United States Housing Act of 1937 that a tribe owned or ran on October 1 of the year before funds are given, how much poverty and economic distress there is, and how many Indian families live in the tribe’s area. The law explains when a unit stops being counted (for example, if the tribe loses legal control or the unit is gone) and gives limited exceptions (for example, homeownership delays beyond the tribe’s control, rebuilding within 1 year). Examples of “reasons beyond the control” include title delays, bad legal descriptions, probate or other court clouds, or other legal blocks. The Secretary must also consider a tribe’s administrative and technical capacity and how ending some assistance would affect State-recognized tribes. If total funding in a year is at least the total made available for fiscal year 1996 for operation and modernization of such public housing, tribes that got that 1996 assistance must not receive less than their 1996 amount, with a special rule for tribes owning or operating fewer than 250 units for fiscal year 2001 and after (their modernization amount becomes their average annual section 14 funding for 1992–1997). If total funding is less than the 1996 total, each tribe must get at least the same proportional share it had in 1996. The law took effect on October 26, 1996.
Full Legal Text
Indians — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
25 U.S.C. § 4152
Title 25 — Indians
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60