The Navajo Housing Tragedy: Shiprock

An Arizona Republic investigation has found the Navajo Housing Authority, the agency responsible for spending $1.66 billion to ease housing shortages in Indian country has failed in ways almost too numerous to count.

Few places exemplify the mismanagement and malfeasance like Shiprock.

Housing expert Chester Carl by 2006 had spent a dozen years as director of the Navajo Nation agency responsible for providing homes for nearly 200,000 tribal members on the sprawling reservation.
Carl also served as president of the National American Indian Housing Council, and touted his skills for getting much-needed dwellings built.

In Depth:The Navajo Housing Tragedy: Where did $1 billion go? 

Then the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general conducted a detailed audit.

A federal grand jury indicted Carl in 2009, accusing him of a criminal conspiracy with developer William Aubrey of Lodgebuilder Inc. Aubrey’s Nevada-based company built dozens of reservation homes in Chilchinbeto, Ariz., and South Shiprock, N.M., with federal funds channeled through the Navajo Housing Authority.

The South Shiprock project was a bust: Just one of 91 homes built ever was occupied. The rest sat vacant and have since been torn down.

To build a home: The Navajo housing tragedy