International Indian Treaty Councilhttp://www.treatycouncil.org/
Bill Means, a native of the Pine Ridge reservation who serves on the International Indian Treaty Council, said, "We hope that the inspector's visit will expose the atrocious conditions on the reservation that the U.S. allows to happen. The reason for asking the U.N. to help is that we can't get that type of attention in Washington ... We are looking for policy change. Real change. Not just more promises."Tribal members testified that severe overcrowding marks living conditions on the reservation. With an unemployment rate of 80 percent it is difficult for residents to maintain housing. Among the problems are inadequate repairs and mold that is hazardous to health.
A report prepared by the Oglala Sioux Lakota Housing Authority states that “housing built and indirectly maintained by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is in a deplorable state. The Lakota Nation, among other Indian nations, is a party to treaties with the United States, signed in the mid and late 1800s. Among the United States treaty obligations is the provision of subsistence and housing.”
“We are a sovereign nation built on treaties that the U.S. doesn’t honor,” said Myron Pourier, a tribal council member. “We don’t have the necessities people take for granted. They have nice homes that have running water, bathrooms and a kitchen.
Sixty percent of the housing on the reservation has three to four families living in a single house, including children and extended family members. We are severely underfunded.”
Willie stressed that the housing problems facing Indian nations are much more complicated than those of other populations in the United States. “It is estimated that 200,000 housing units are needed in Indian country. Currently 90,000 Native American families are homeless or under-housed. The president’s budget for housing block grants is $646 million, but $854 million is needed just to meet the backlog.”
