Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Modernization Act of 2026

Summary

Gives Indian tribes, tribally designated housing entities, Native Hawaiian entities, and related recipients much greater flexibility and new tools to build, operate, and finance housing. It creates new tribal homeless and Native Hawaiian homeless programs, a tribal veterans rental assistance program, expands loan guarantee and counseling eligibility, updates procurement, reporting, environmental review, and lease rules, and extends/authorizes funding through 2033 while adding many administrative and programmatic requirements for HUD and recipients. Overall, the measure emphasizes tribal self-determination (allowing tribes to set procurement rules, rents, homebuyer payments, and use technical assistance flexibly), creates new targeted grant programs (tribal homeless, Native Hawaiian homeless, tribal veterans HUD–VASH, and a Tribal/Rural CoC Builds program), clarifies and expands loan guarantee and lender rules, and changes procurement/Buy America rules for HUD-funded tribal projects. Many changes tighten timelines for HUD actions, require public reporting, and authorize multi-year funding extensions for Native Hawaiian housing programs.

• Authorizes broad tribal self‑determination: tribes/TDHEs can adopt their own procurement rules, set rents/homebuyer payments, and use technical assistance flexibly.
• Creates new targeted programs: Tribal HUD–VASH (tribal veterans rental assistance), Tribal Homeless Assistance, and Native Hawaiian Homeless Assistance programs using portions of existing HUD homelessness funds.
• Expands housing finance tools: broadened Section 184/184A loan guarantee rules, eligible lenders (including CDFIs), and direct endorsement/indemnification authority.
• Raises lease terms on trust/restricted Indian lands from 50 to 99 years to facilitate longer‑term housing arrangements and financing.
• Exempts HUD‑funded tribal recipients from Build America, Buy America requirements and grants HUD waiver authority to ease tribal participation (with some statutory protections preserved).
• Extends Native Hawaiian housing authorization and allows homeownership assistance up to 120% AMI for Indians/Native Hawaiians, capped at 50% of a grant’s use.
• Adds procurement de minimis threshold tied to federal micro‑purchase levels (150% of the micro‑purchase threshold) instead of a fixed $5,000.
• Authorizes consolidated environmental review when tribes assume responsibility and limits duplicative federal NEPA processes in certain circumstances.
• Creates a HUD Tribal Intergovernmental Advisory Committee and requires multiple reports to Congress and public release of findings and recommendations.
• Imposes new HUD procedural timelines and recipient protections for suspension/limitation of grant payments and expands reporting/transparency requirements.