Collaboration Brings Much Needed Transitional Housing to Akwesasne

Akwesasne, NY - Akwesasne Housing Authority (AHA) has been dedicated to bringing affordable safe housing to Akwesasne for over 30 years and has recently partnered with the Mohawk Indian Housing Corporation (MIHC), and the Tribe's Infrastructure & Planning Department, to provide transitional housing to members of our community.

AHA acquired four new and unused mobile homes from FEMA, a disaster relief program. The trailers were remnants of FEMA's Hurricane Katrina Relief effort and were gifted to the tribe for use in the AHA's planned transitional housing project. AHA provided the funding and arranged for the homes to be transported from Hope, Arkansas to Akwesasne, where they were destined to be used for various tribal social service programs.

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen setbacks, the original plan for the homes were not realized and the dwellings were left idle at the old IGA lot across from the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino.

After several years, a rekindled collaboration was established between the AHA and MIHC with renewed intent to provide a transitional housing project for community members in need of emergency temporary housing, which has become a growing problem in Akwesasne. The MIHC recognized the definite need for transitional housing within our community and wanted to be the entity to provide this type of service as part of their portfolio, which now totals 76 rental units.

The four mobile homes were dedicated to this project, and were developed on the old MIHC McGee Road Apartments site on McGee Road in Akwesasne. The AHA work crew provided the labor and materials to set up the homes to NYS code and guidelines, including the installation of concrete slabs, weatherized skirting, waterline and electrical power. The Tribe's Infrastructure Department provided the infrastructure for the water hook-ups and leach systems for the entire project. Lastly, the MIHC will be providing the finishing touches on the homes which include setting up and making any repairs caused by transportation and setup damage. The endeavor took the cooperation and tenacity of each program to achieve a common goal of providing safe and affordable housing to community members in need. Mary Jo Terrance, the Executive Director of the Mohawk Indian Housing Corporation stated, "Mohawk Housing would like to acknowledge the hard work from our staff, MIHC Board of Directors, Tribe Infrastructure & Construction, with special consideration for the Staff and Board of Commissioners from Akwesasne Housing Authority for their support and assistance to see this project through to completion. It was a first-time collaboration between MIHC and AHA and hopefully not the last. There remain a number of small repairs to complete. These units should be ready for occupancy within the next month."

The four homes were provided with brand new electric forced air furnaces, fully furnished with furniture, cook stove, microwave ovens, and air conditioning units. They are ADA compliant and are all handicap and wheelchair accessible, although only one dwelling has a wheel chair ramp. Each unit has three bedrooms, one bath and a large open concept living area including furniture. They are also HUD rated for our region of the country, as per HUD Manufactured Housing and Standards guidelines.

Former Chairperson for the AHA Board stated, "On behalf of the Board of Commissioners, it brings us great pleasure to partner with such entities as the Mohawk Indian Housing Corporation and Ernie Thompson's department." The AHA's Executive Director, Retha Herne, stated, "We have Ernie Thompson and Colleen Thomas to thank for bringing their department's resources to this project, which we have always believed in."

The MIHC is the sole proprietor of the project and they will be maintaining and providing the services to the community. The Transitional and Emergency Housing is now taking applications to create a wait list. Selection criteria will be on a case-by-case basis utilizing current MIHC occupancy standards. Any further questions can be directed to Mary Jo Terrance, at the Mohawk Indian Housing Corporation, 188 McGee Road, Hogansburg, NY, 518-358-4860.