A local tribe is one of the first to be approved for a federal housing program.

 

The Cherokee Nation will be participating in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Skilled Worker Program. This program will allow for the construction of multiple rental dwelling units in Cherokee communities that will be provided to skilled workers in several professional fields.

 

The HUD program is a loan program that aids organizations in recruiting skilled workers for hard-to-fill or hard-to-recruit positions. The Cherokee Nation, Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses have worked together to identify those positions in fields such as law enforcement, healthcare, education, contracting, housing and the culinary arts.

 

The demonstration program will first roll out in Ochelata, where earlier this year there were more than 30 hard-to-fill positions identified with nearly 15 that have been unfilled for some time. If successful, the program will expand to other locations to ease the housing demands in multiple communities and provide better resources to the Human Resources teams building the Cherokee Nation’s workforce.