Housing

The bottleneck isn’t only money — it’s land. Because most land defaults to grazing, a home needs a homesite lease first — a process that can take years. The money has a name — much federal housing money flows through the Navajo Housing Authority (NHA); candidates keep asking whether it reaches families and how long the waitlist really is.

Some candidates lead with building — modular or manufactured homes, planned ‘villages.’ Others say the real fix is unblocking — clearing the homesite-lease and infrastructure backlog so homes can actually go up. Both can be true: a home needs a buildable, serviced lot before it needs a builder.

Homesite lease — the lease you need to build a home on trust land; the backlog is a core housing bottleneck. NHA — the Navajo Housing Authority, which handles much of the federal housing money on the Nation. Waitlist / overcrowding — many homes hold multiple families; the housing waitlist runs long. ZenniHome — a compact modular-home product some candidates raised — tied to accountability questions over a $24M allocation.

Before asking what’s broken, it helps to know who’s even supposed to be in charge — the law, the referee, and the watchers. Why this matters →

What’s the law?Navajo housing law plus federal housing programs (HUD / NAHASDA) delivered through the NHA; homesite leases are governed by Navajo leasing law and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) trust rules. Who regulates it? (the outside referee)Federal HUD standards govern the federal housing dollars; the BIA sits over trust-land leasing. Who oversees it? (the inside watchers)The NHA board, the Council committee over housing, and chapters that approve homesite leases.

Chapters & the LGA → — What’s broken — and what candidates would fix · Homes stall on land and on money-tracking — see below, summarized from candidates’ interviews.

A starting map — confirm current laws and body names against the Nation’s official resources. General civic information, not legal advice.

• Land first. A home can’t go up until a homesite lease clears — and that can take years.
• The money question. Candidates ask where housing dollars went, including allocations like the $24M tied to modular homes.
• The waitlist. Families wait years; overcrowding drives health and school problems.
• The infrastructure gap. A lot with no water, power, or road isn’t buildable — housing and infrastructure are the same problem.

What this costs: families doubled and tripled up, elders without a sound home, and set-aside housing money that’s hard to trace.

Read summaries of how they answered — each name links to that candidate’s full interview summary:

Andy Nez Cal asked: What's the housing vision?Nez wants to build “villages” — small communities where seniors, people in substance-abuse recovery, veterans, and disabled relatives can receive a continuum of care — funded in part by the roughly $14 million in delegate region funds from the $293 million line-item-veto package.

Curtis Yanito — Cal asked: You sponsored legislation granting tribal-organization status to the Navajo Land Nursing Home — explain it.Yanito is pushing to convert the Chinle nursing home (a nonprofit registered with the Nation) into a 638 entity, arguing the Nation should be a supplemental funder but has neglected it; he tied it to caring for elders and veterans who never accrued work benefits.

Eula Yazzie — Cal asked: What would you do about housing?Drawing on 22 years at NHA (and certification from the National Center for Housing Management), Yazzie says the Council effectively signed a “blank check” to the Housing Authority and that it's up to the Council to revisit the policies and regulations that keep people homeless.

Germaine Simonson — Cal asked: Tell us your platform and track record.Simonson pointed to concrete, funded wins — new senior centers for Pinon and Whippoorwill plus three renovations, approved in 2024 — and described pressing the engineering and community-development offices in committee to move projects that, on the Nation, often take eight or more years.

Johnny Russell Jr — Cal asked: What about the ZenniHome deal and the enterprises?Russell said he predicted the ZenniHome failure from the start — no one could build 600 homes in a month — and that the company took the money and disappeared; he would instead build trailers and homes with Navajo welders and labor. He also questioned why Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) and the casinos benefit outside owners while Navajos are “middle persons.”

Lavonne Tsosie — Cal asked: What are the biggest issues in your area?Her core issues are housing, the lack of jobs, and stalled economic development for relocatees, along with long-delayed infrastructure like the N9403 back road from Sanders to Allentown that communities have raised for decades without action.

Myron Lizer — Cal asked: What's your plan for veterans, housing, and the 638 system?Lizer would honor veterans by matching their sacrifice — building homes cheaper via a Navajo-based manufacturing factory (he's scouted 3D-printed cement homes and sweat-equity Eco Panel homes), partnering with a Northern Agency veterans 501c3 that holds a 25-year lease on a 33,000-square-foot building (needing roughly $5–10 million in startup capital). On health care he backs the 638 model for its flexibility and self-governance, would leverage Indian Health Service (IHS)'s budget increase and federal partners, and stressed better oversight — transparency and accountability with boards in sync with their communities.

Only candidates interviewed by Cal Nez appear, and only where the topic came up. A blank isn’t a mark against anyone — interviews weren’t standardized, so coverage isn’t comparable across seats.

Homes promised while the lots stay un-leased and the money stays hard to trace — the same ‘no clear owner’ pattern that runs under every topic. See the root — Accountability & Justice →

Where the community stands: collecting — tallies and best ideas publish with the weekly findings.

Not promises — numbers you could actually check a year in:

• Homesite leases issued per year, and the average wait time — is the backlog shrinking?
• The housing waitlist, published and updated.
• Where specific housing allocations went, with a public accounting.

• “What exactly is stopping homes from being built in my chapter — land, money, or infrastructure?”
• “How many families are on the waitlist, and how long is the wait?”
• “Where did the housing money go, and who is accountable for it?”

• Land, Grazing & Homesite Leases 101 →
• Infrastructure 101 →
• Economic Development 101 →

See who’s running and read their full interviews and profiles on the candidate list →, or line up their positions side by side in the comparison grid →.

Your part — do something with this. Read what a candidate said, ask them one of the questions above, and vote your own judgment. This is a conversation — keep it going.