Homes Sweet Homes: Innovative Sioux Housing Projects
Published in Indian Country Today in 2013. For more on topics like this, see American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle....“In building homes for
tribal members, our students learn computer-design and building skills, how
to bid on a job and more,” said Oren Voice, wood-shop teacher at the Crow Creek
Sioux Reservation’s high school, in Stephan, South Dakota. “It’ll give them a
good technical education and help them prepare for careers.”
Under the supervision of
Voice, who is a tribal member (shown here), and a team of three additional faculty members,
a crew of 11 students began building a home on the reservation on Tuesday, June
4. By Thursday, the students (shown here) had the subfloor in place and had framed two
walls, using conventional balloon construction. “We’re ahead of schedule and
should have no problem finishing the entire home, kitchen cabinetry and all, by
November,” said Voice. “Then a family can move in.”
The dwellings will
help the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe chip away at not just unemployment among tribal
members, but also a critical need for housing experienced on almost all
reservations throughout the country. Tens of thousands of Native families live
in overcrowded, substandard housing, according to the U.S. Civil Rights
Commission in its 2003 report, The Quiet
Crisis: Federal Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country. The homes may
not have utilities, telephones, complete kitchens and other amenities other
Americans take for granted.
As soon as the students
finish the first house, they’ll start another one, said Voice. He was thrilled
to report that the kids haven’t forgotten anything he taught them last year:
“In fact, they told me they’re so happy they took my class.”
The youngsters will learn
about furnishing and decorating houses from Margie Loud Hawk, from the Cheyenne
River Sioux Tribe, who teaches Family Consumer Science. To help with future job
hunting, the youngsters will get certificates of participation and help
creating résumés, added Nova Griss (seen above), who teaches business and computer skills.
“I’d say half of Crow
Creek’s population is in homes where families are doubled up,” said Voice.
There may be hundreds of applicants when new places become available, he said.
“I grew up here. I am very familiar with this.”
The Crow Creek tribal
council provided seed funding for the program, including money to buy the necessary
tools, and will buy the homes when they’re finished. More support for the
project will come from sales of large- and small-scale decorative metalwork (shown here) by students
of automotive shop teacher Troy Naser. He gave the rest of the team a look at
pieces already finished pieces for the tribal housing department and other
clients.
The hunting scenes, galloping ponies and other vivid imagery showed
artistic talent and careful craftsmanship—a harbinger of more top-notch work to
come from Crow Creek’s youngsters.
Home on the Rez
More creative housing
projects are shaping up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, also in South
Dakota. In the
southwestern corner of Pine Ridge, Milo
Yellow Hair has a plan. He was looking up at the massive exposed ceiling beams (seen here) of a two-story home built at Slim Buttes Agricultural Development Corporation,
a nonprofit on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in South Dakota, and another
recipient of Running Strong for Native American Youth funding.
“Isn’t it
beautiful?” exclaimed Yellow Hair, the Slim Buttes service coordinator. “I wish
this kind of house for everyone at Pine Ridge.”
The dwelling, shown here, had an
open-plan kitchen-plus-family-room downstairs, a sleeping loft upstairs and a
feeling of soaring solidity. Yellow Hair, who is Oglala, pointed out the wooden
pegs, instead of nails, joining the timbers—a building technique harking back
to both medieval Europe and ancient Japan. “You can use various materials, such
as bricks or adobe, to fill in the walls,” he said, adding that such homes are
easy to keep warm. “We heat this one with just one woodstove.”
Yellow Hair envisions Slim
Buttes creating timber-frame house kits. “For our people, it’s good when we have
things we make with our own hands.”
On the north end of the reservation, Oglala Lakota College and local high schools are working on a research project with Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation, in Sharp’s Corner, and Pyatt Studio, the Boulder, Colorado firm of architect Rob Pyatt. Students are building straw-bale and other innovative homes and outfitting them with monitors to assess energy efficiency and air quality, according to Pyatt Studio architect Kimberly Drennan.
The straw-bale home was started last summer and will be finished this summer, said Drennan, with three more dwellings to go—using structural insulated panels, an updated form of balloon framing that uses less lumber and compressed-earth blocks. The construction technique that the sensors reveal is most efficient will be used for housing stock Thunder Valley will build in a live-and-work community it plans for the reservation.
Each house the students build is a learning experience, said Drennan: “Every one helps us create benchmarks for the next one.”
If I Had a Hammer
This summer on
the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, families
can go after those leaky faucets, missing roof shingles and more with grants for up to $1,000 to fix and upgrade their homes. They need to be homeowners and
members of the Cheyenne River Youth Project’s Family Services program, said April Bachman, CRYP’s finance manager. Members can also take advantage of many other CRYP activities for children, including after-school activities and leadership projects. Funding for home improvement comes from Running Strong for Native American Youth.
