Zuni Pueblo works to expand availability of tribal housing

Vanessa Peywa, 33, and her daughter, Arin Peywa, 11, look on as Emy Little, loan officer for the American Mortgage Group, Inc. from Phoenix, crunches numbers for them. The mortgage group answered questions the community had about securing a Native American Home Loan. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Staff Writer

ZUNI — Vanessa Peywa wants what almost every American wants, a nice home where she can raise her family.

Recently coming out of a divorce and having limited options, Peywa, 33, was forced to move into her uncle's trailer. She took over the trailer's payments; however, her son and daughter had to move in with their grandma, just next door to her.

"I don't have enough room," she said.

For now, Peywa is working with her situation, and is hopeful that she will be able to secure a home loan so her children can have their own rooms and they can be together under one roof.

"I want something that I can call my own," she said.

Lucy Yatsatie, 56, and her husband, Fernando Yatsatie, 53, have been wanting to get a new home for the past eight years.

"We live in a trailer, and it's kind of getting small," said Lucy.

Lucy said there are total of seven people living in their two-bedroom home, including two of their daughters, and two grandchildren.

The Yatsatie's and the Peywa's living situation is not unique to tribal members of Zuni. A majority of members have the same predicament.

Wednesday night, the Yatsatie's and Peywa's were among 90 other community members who squeezed into a small room at the Zuni tribal office building to learn how they can begin to secure a Native American Home Loan.

"Because this program is so flexible, I get a lot of Anglos who say, 'What about me?' There's a lot of Anglos who want to get on with this program, so take advantage of it," advised Ernie Little, loan officer for the American Mortgage Group, Inc. from Phoenix.

The program is designed to offer home ownership, property rehabilitation, new construction, or refinancing opportunities for eligible tribes, Indian Housing Authorities, and Native people who want to own a home either on or off tribal land. Congress established the program in 1994, but it was not officially implemented in Zuni until late 2006.

Before the program came into existence, lenders had no way to give home loans to people living on tribal lands since the tribe's sovereign status prevented them from repossessing a home in the event of a default. Because of this, many tribes began creating resolutions that would were "lender friendly" so that tribal members could have the opportunity to get home loans.

Native home loan benefits
"It's pretty much a 100 percent loan, and it's not credit score driven," said Brain Bell, loan officer with American Mortgage Group, Inc.

The program has a number of other benefits, such as a low down payment of 1.25 percent to 2.25 percent, based on the lower of the appraised value or cost to acquire a home, a 1 percent finance-able guarantee fee at closing, no monthly mortgage insurance premium, and a 41 percent total debt to gross income ratio. The program also has no income restrictions, making it available to anyone.

Many tribes in Arizona and New Mexico have the program available to tribal members, but there are tribes, like Hopi, who do not yet have it implemented.

And although the program is considerably flexible, and has a number of attractive benefits and perks, many tribal members are unable to secure a loan immediately because of bad credit.

This past summer, the Zuni Division of Housing Services compiled 23 applications to be reviewed for a home loan between $100,000 to $200,000, but only three people qualified. With the exception of a couple of people who had no credit built, Diane Cooche, loan mortgage consultant for the division, said that the rest had "credit issues."

"Their debt to income ratio is too high," she said.

Telling applicants they've been denied a home loan is difficult for division officials, especially since many come in optimistic about getting a loan.

"They're discouraged," said Cooche.

What the problem comes down to is that most community members, Cooche said, don't understand how credit works.

"A majority of our people here have never seen their credit report," said Cooche. "People think that because a bill goes to collections, it's paid."

In response to the high number of applicants with poor credit, the program implemented a financial education program to begin to help people understand how credit works, and how they can start to get their credit back on track. The 20-week programs first class will start this coming Sunday.

"We want to convey to them that their situation is not hopeless," said Cooche.

Although many people may feel discouraged about their credit history, Bell advised the packed audience Wednesday evening not to try to determine on their own whether they are eligible for a home loan.

"A lot of people say 'I cannot afford a home; I can't qualify,' and its not true," said Bell. "With the 184 (Native American Loan Program), they'd be surprised."

Changing the mentality
One of the divisions biggest obstacles they face in their mission to help people acquire their own home is getting them to pull themselves out of a "gimme" mentality. Unfortunately, Cooche said, many community members view programs that are linked to Washington money, such as the division, as "free dollars".

"They see it as a gimme program," she said. "That's their mentality."

In an attempt to curtail that mindset, the division is making the financial education class mandatory for low-income families who will be moving into the Bluebird Project Housings. The project is over 50 percent complete.

Because people are delinquent in paying their rent, Cooche said, it puts the division at high-risk for being audited. With the education program, officials want to begin to teach families how to live within their means, and properly manage their money.

"We want to break that vicious cycle of delinquencies," said Cooche.

Cooche said that the tribe can no longer rely on federal dollars, especially since the economy has put a crunch on the number of grant programs available. But altering that train of thought is a challenge within itself.

"I call it turning the Titanic around," said Cooche. "It's hard because they're so used to having programs out there available."

What the division ultimately wants to accomplish is offering community members the knowledge and the tools to become self-sufficient.

"We need to have them say 'I can do this, but show me how,' " she said.

For more information, contact ZDHS at 505-782-4550.