Tester Secures Resources to Rehab CSKT’s Transitional Living Center

Senator Announces Critical Funding Weeks After Joining Housing Secretary in Pablo

(U.S. Senate) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester has secured more than $250,000 for the Salish Kootenai Housing Authority to help rehabilitate the Tribes’ transitional living center in Pablo.

Tester secured the funding weeks after joining U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on the Flathead Indian Reservation in August.

“Housing is critical to every community,” said Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. “Access to safe housing provides families with the foundation they need to launch a successful career and help grow our economy. I proudly fought for these resources because this investment will strengthen opportunities for families.”

Tester secured this additional funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG) initiative. These resources will go toward rehabilitating an 18-unit homeless shelter, the main house of which was opened by the tribes in 1998. Twelve one-room units were added to the shelter in 2000 and in 2010 the tribes utilized the ICDBG initiative to add four family units to the facility. The main house and the 12 one-room units are in need of rehab work to insure the availability of the units for future use.

“The Transitional Living Center is a critical part of the housing services that the Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority provides to the CS&KT tribal members,” said Jason Adams, Executive Director of the Salish Kootenai Housing Authority. “The rehabilitation of the facility will allow us to continue to offer the transitional housing services for many more years.”

Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, has long been a champion for Indian Country in the Senate. Earlier this week, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee unanimously passed Tester’s bipartisan Tribal HUD-VASH Act, which will renew a joint tribal housing program that provides rental and housing assistance to Native American veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.