🏡💚 From Green Social Housing to Land Back
September 29th, 2023
As we await the fate of the various social housing-related bills on the Governor’s desk, we’ll spend this week on a specific aspect of green social housing that I’ve gotten a few questions about: what (if any) connection is there to Land Back and tribal housing?
Some of you may have followed SB 18 (McGuire) The Tribal Housing Reconstitution and Resiliency Act, which passed through the legislature this year. If signed by the Governor, this would create the first-ever dedicated tribal housing grant program in California. This program would fund construction and rehabilitation of homes for rent and sale, specifically for tribal communities.
The bill comes in recognition of the acute ways that the housing crisis impacts tribal communities, and correctly identifies this as the direct cause of historic genocide, land dispossession, and racism. As Senator McGuire notes:
Native Americans are disproportionally represented among California’s homeless population.
Tribal communities see higher rates of poverty and overcrowded and substandard homes compared to any other population in the Golden State.
Approximately 9% of tribes in California have homes that lack complete plumbing and 7% lack complete kitchens.
If it does get signed, there would still need to be money appropriated through the Budget into the fund (my understanding — correct me if I’m wrong). But this would be a huge step forward toward addressing the tribal housing crisis, where despite the clear need, the overwhelming majority of Tribes have been unable to access existing state housing program funds.
A green social housing campaign will also require a deeper look into the demands for land rematriation. Some Indigenous communities in California are already starting to show the way.
In Humboldt county, the Wiyot Tribe has created the Dishgamu Humboldt Community Land Trust, the United States’ first, and so far only, community land trust under tribal law. Dishgamu Humboldt (‘Dishgamu’ – the Soulatluk word for ‘love’) is designed to act as a vehicle for the return of more Wiyot ancestral lands, which, under the Wiyot’s stewardship, can be used for affordable housing, work opportunities and environmental and cultural restoration.
California also has a growing number of Indigenous-led land trusts, such as the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy. Earlier this year, it was announced that funding was secured through the Inflation Reduction Act for The Village SF — a proposed six-story building that will provide access to social services, cultural resources, housing, and a place for the Native American community to grow, heal, and thrive.
How else could a green social housing campaign contribute to Land Back and Indigenous sovereignty?
See below for more reading on all of this ⬇️
Artist rendering of The Village SF (from CalMatters)
WHAT WE’RE READING
California Tribal Housing Needs and Opportunities — a 2019 study by the California Coalition for Rural Housing and Rural Community Assistance Corporation to reveal the current housing and living conditions of California’s tribal communities and provide recommendations for how the state can help to improve these conditions in the coming years
How California’s Wiyot Tribe turned to community land trusts to fight for justice (Coop News) — great article talking about Dishgamu Humboldt and some of the other Indigenous-led land trusts
It’s time for government to invest in urban Indian communities (CalMatters) — guest commentary talking about The Village SF and the need to recognize and support urban Native communities.
$100 Million Grant to Assist California Native Tribes With Buying Back Land (KQED)
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We’ll be back with another newsletter next Friday morning. Please send any relevant topics, articles, reports, or intel to me at zach@apen4ej.org!
