Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Nahasda Overview topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate staff outline NAHASDA Modernization Act provisions for Native Hawaiians
Summary
Senate staff summarized key NAHASDA modernization measures: six-year reauthorization through FY2033, expanded Section 184 loan terms and geography, subaward flexibilities, AMI eligibility expansion for homeownership, and program-specific reporting and homelessness provisions for Native Hawaiian communities.
Alana Purdy from Sen. Brian Schatz’s office described the NAHASDA Modernization Act’s structure and provisions relevant to Native Hawaiians. She said the bill would reauthorize core law through fiscal year 2033 and create flexibilities intended to speed projects — consolidating certain environmental reviews, broadening AMI ranges for homeownership assistance, allowing subawards of the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant (section 20), and extending Section 184 loan terms to 40 years while enabling use on fee-simple lands.
Purdy highlighted new homelessness-targeted provisions: a 1% McKinney-Vento set-aside to deliver vouchers and case work for Native Hawaiian households (section 31) and a competitive tribal and rural CoC build program with a large set-aside for tribes, DHHL and eligible Native Hawaiian organizations (section 32). She also noted reporting requirements intended to make HUD-provided data available to Congress and the public and said some bill text differs between House and Senate versions.
"NAHASDA has not been reauthorized for roughly 14 years," Purdy said, and she urged beneficiaries to use the public-comment and testimony process to describe local regulatory burdens and project challenges. She summarized environmental-review flexibilities intended to reduce duplicative federal reviews when HUD funds comprise the primary federal investment for a project.
