Giving thanks for housing heroes

The holidays and the new year are just around the corner, and that means it’s a perfect time for reflection. This year, I am giving thanks for the opportunity to work with amazing clients all around the country. Thank you for your perseverance and dedication to the development of affordable housing in Native communities.

A few months back, one of our clients, the Tohono O’odham Ki:Ki Association (TOKA), received an important honor: The Arizona Department of Housing’s Brian Mickelsen Housing Hero Award for Tribal Initiatives. TOKA’s project includes the rehabilitation of 60 substandard homes and the construction a 3,000-square-foot community center in Sells, AZ, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s capital. Twenty of the homes will be rehabilitated using HUD’s Title VI loan guarantee program, and 40 of the homes are being rehabilitated using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.

TOKA’s rehabilitation project includes new plumbing, electrical, and mechanical systems, new interiors, an upgraded roof, and improvements to the energy efficiency of the homes through new insulation, windows, and appliances. The community center is located within the same subdivision of the project units and will be used for financial literacy courses, fitness and wellness classes, basic home repair workshops, and homebuyer education classes.

For the 40 LIHTC units, Travois assisted TOKA during the application and closing with an equity investor. Now, we are by TOKA’s side during construction and will be there during the ongoing compliance period too. TOKA is an excellent example of an organization identifying a community need, leveraging its resources, and transforming an entire neighborhood in just a few years. We are thrilled that ADOH recognized TOKA’s initiatives too.

Thank you to TOKA and all other tribal entities working to create solutions to the challenges in your communities. We love experiencing every step of the housing-dreams-to-reality process with you.

(Pictured above (left to right): Billman Lopez, Marcos Ysmael, Roxanne Neal, Kimberly Mull, Pete Delgado, Michael Trailor)

Read up on our other clients who have won this same award in recent years: