KEY COMMUNITY BUILDING IN HANDS OF NAVAJO NATION
HUD worked with Navajo leaders to officially transfer former group home to Tohatchi community

FORT WORTH - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is pleased to have worked together with the Navajo Nation this week to officially transfer to them the former Tohatchi Group Home building in Tohatchi, a small community 25 miles north of Gallup, which sits on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico.

"We are committed to strengthening and building on the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian tribes, and this transfer allowed us to do just that," said Janet Golrick, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing at HUD in Washington, D.C., the office that coordinated the transaction. "We are pleased Tohatchi now has in its hands this key property to continue serving the community."

The sale and transfer was completed on June 14 when the President of the Navajo Nation, Ben Shelly, met with HUD officials at the Gallup District Courthouse to accept ownership of the building. The original nonprofit owner of home, Dine' Na'Hi' DOLNAL, Inc., secured a land lease with the Navajo Housing Authority and built the property in 1987. It was insured under Section 202 of the National Housing Act and served disabled low income residents from the Navajo Nation. The building includes 12 bedrooms within a single story building, a central kitchen and a community room. HUD bid highest on the property at the foreclosure sale on June 14, and immediately transferred it to the Navajo Nation. The transfer was a culmination of months of collaboration, which would not have been possible without the efforts of The Navajo Nation, the Navajo Housing Authority, the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Gallup, NM, and various HUD offices.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet and espanol.hud.gov.