Tribal Council approves grant agreement for McMinnville housing project

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Tribal Council approved a grant agreement and amendment to a memorandum of understanding between Tribe and the Yamhill County Housing Authority at its Wednesday, July 10, meeting.

The agreement will allow a $7 million grant from the Tribe to be used by Yamhill County to provide housing options for Tribal members who want to live in the McMinnville area.

The amendment to the MOU requires consultation with the Tribe if any changes are made to the project that will have substantial effects on Tribal member tenants.

“Stratus Village is a large housing project going right next to the hospital in McMinnville and approximately 170-plus apartments eventually will be built out,” Housing Department Manager Shonn Leno said at a Tuesday, July 9, Legislative Action Committee meeting. “Grand Ronde will be in charge of 25 of those for our members, ranging from one- to three-bedrooms. Plus, there is a community center building that will have office space for us…Basically, it’s a housing option for Tribal members who don’t necessarily want to live in Grand Ronde or who have obligations in McMinnville. … I think it creates a new opportunity for our membership, especially our youth.”

Leno added he is hoping that the new development will help alleviate the inability of Tribal members to utilize housing vouchers due to the current lack of available rental units in Yamhill County.  

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved the 11 Tribe O’Link memorandum of agreement. The annual agreement is necessary because the Grand Ronde Tribe’s Indian Housing Block Grant service area overlaps with 10 other Tribes in Oregon and California. The federal government requires that Tribes in overlapping service areas agree on how to distribute funding and the 11 Tribes have agreed to use Tribal enrollment data instead of Bureau of Indian Affairs labor force statistics. The agreement includes the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Siletz, Klamath, Coquille and Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribes in Oregon and the Karuk, Quartz Valley, Tolowa Dee-ni’, Yurok and Fort Bidwell Tribes in California. The agreement will benefit the 11 Tribes a total of $2 million in additional funding;
• And approved a $356,422 grant agreement between the Tribe and the Oregon Department of Education to fund culturally-specific afterschool care services.

In other action, Tribal Council approved an authorization to proceed with the planning process of developing a dog park in Tribal housing west of the playground area.

To watch the entire meeting, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and click on the Videos tab.