Doctor In The House

INCHELIUM, WASHINGTON - What are the chances of having a doctor in the house if there's no house in which the doctor can live? Somewhere between no way and never, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in north central Washington state would probably tell you.

Because that's what they'd heard from the Lake Roosevelt Community Health Centers, an autonomous organization created by the Confederation to provide health services at two locations on the reservation. Simply put, the Centers repeatedly were unable to fill "critical vacancies" for doctors and nurses because of a critical shortage of housing on the Reservation.

It's a part of a much larger problem. With more than 5,000 residents, many of them living below the Federal poverty standard, affordable housing is one of the Tribes' most pressing problems. "Reservation communities," the Tribes' Web site reports, "lack adequate, affordable housing, home water systems and even electricity."

Thanks to the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act passed by the Congress and signed by the President in 2009, some much-needed relief is on the way. It's happening on Buttercup Lane near Inchelium where, with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, an Affordable Housing Program grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank and $3.7 million in competitive and formula Recovery Act, the Colville Indian Housing Authority is building a brand-new, 27-unit single-family development.

The Authority has reserved four of the units for purchase by moderate- to high-income homebuyers under HUD's Section 184 Indian Loan Guarantee Program. The Authority and Lake Roosevelt Health Centers also have agreed to create a number of rental units for doctors and nurses they are recruiting. And the balance of the homes will be available rent at prices affordable to Reservation families.

"Affordability" may be the hallmark of the Buttercup Lane development. But there's much else to recommend it. Every new home will have a southern orientation to promote solar heating, use energy-efficient construction techniques and include Energy Star and water-conserving appliances. The community will be "walkable," with paved sidewalks and pathways. And, in a very dry part of the world, the site has been built to maximize the capture of rain run-off.

"There's lots of smarts at work in what the Colville Authority is doing at Buttercup Lane," said HUD Northwest Regional Administrator Mary McBride. "The demand there for affordable housing is great and the resources are limited. But the Authority is making very effective use of Recovery Act and other resources to maximize both the quantity and the quality of the units it can provide."

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