Citizen Portal
Sign In

Advocates urge culturally grounded, Native‑led pilot to tackle urban Native homelessness

Human Services Interim Committee · November 19, 2025

Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts

Subscribe
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Speakers representing Native Inc. urged the committee to recognize stark racial disparities in homelessness and incarceration and backed a Native‑led urban pilot combining cultural connectedness, housing, reentry and workforce supports to reduce long‑term homelessness among Native Americans.

Native‑led advocacy groups told lawmakers that Native Americans are disproportionately represented among people experiencing homelessness in North Dakota and urged culturally appropriate strategies and pilot investment.

Lorraine Davis, founder and CEO of Native Inc., presented data from the Institute for Community Alliances showing Native people are overrepresented in unsheltered homelessness and incarceration relative to their share of the state population. She argued that culturally grounded services, family‑centered supports and traditional healing are central to sustainable outcomes and proposed a pilot run by Native Inc. serving urban tribal members with wraparound services including rapid rehousing, behavioral health, reentry supports and workforce development.

Committee members encouraged placing Native proposals into the interagency council’s statewide planning work and asked applicants to align pilot proposals with the governor’s council so the projects can be considered in the executive budget.