Twice as nice: Two recent awards for Red Lake Reservation Housing Authority!

The Red Lake Reservation Housing Authority (RLRHA) received the good news (yesterday!) of an award of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) of $699,930 from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to help finance Red Lake Homes 13.

The project will build 35 new homes on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake and Redby, MN. Each new single-family home will have three bedrooms and will be built from one of two different layout plans. With over 300 households on RLRHA’s low-income housing waiting list, the need for the 35 units in Red Lake Homes 13 is undeniable. Below is a rehabilitated home from Red Lake Homes 12.

In addition, four homes will be set aside for Long Term Homeless (LTH) households with domestic violence survivors. RLRHA is teaming up with Equay Wiigamig, the Red Lake Nation’s Women’s Shelter, to provide supportive services to these households, including advocacy services and education sessions for domestic violence and sexual assault victims and homeless women on the reservation.

The new homes will be located in quiet subdivisions near many amenities and will include energy-efficient features and high speed Internet. Four of the project units will be built to meet the minimum essential Universal Design features.

Units will be rent restricted and project-based rental assistance will be provided to ensure the most affordable rents possible for tenants.

  • 6 units will be rent restricted to 30 percent AMI
  • 12 units will be rent restricted to 50 percent AMI
  • 17 units will be rent restricted to 60 percent AMI

Red Lake Homes 13 will be RLRHA’s 12th tax credit project and eighth new construction LIHTC development. In total, its past tax credit projects include 287 units.

Last month, RLRHA got more good news! It was awarded $800,000 from the Capital Magnet Fund of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Adam Rose, senior project coordinator, helped RLRHA with the successful application for the highly competitive awards. The CDFI Fund received 125 applications and awarded funds to only 32. RLRHA was the only tribal housing authority that received a CMF award!

RLRHA will use the grant to capitalize an Affordable Housing Fund. Proceeds from the fund will assist in funding a portion of construction costs for Red Lake Homes 13. The remaining portion of the fund will aid the RLRHA in developing 10 single-family homeownership units for low-income tribal members.

You can view a list of the awardees in the CDFI Fund’s Capital Magnet Fund Award Book.

The Capital Magnet Fund provides competitively awarded grants to develop, rehabilitate, preserve and purchase affordable housing for low-income families. This award is the second round in the Capital Magnet Fund’s history. The inaugural round was 2010.

Congratulations RLRHA! You have quite the success record! We are grateful for the opportunity to help you with the wonderful work you do on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.