Housing affordability for tribal communities

To her, the mission of the initiative is personal: “This disparity is not talked about enough,” she told MPA. “And it’s not noticed enough. It means so much to me deeply as an enrolled tribal member, as the daughter of a boarding school survivor, and an activist for my own family reasons. Home is so crucial to safety, stability, preservation of our language and culture.”

The mortgage business is not new to her, she noted: “Twenty years ago, I fell into mortgages almost by accident when my babies were just little,” she recalled. “I grew up working with the best of the best; they did more low-income mortgages in the state of Montana than anyone. I learned from the ground up what it meant to know a family and the kind of product that would fill equity for the next generation and make this a pivotal, joyful experience.”

She spent an extended period on the front end of the mortgage, doing processing, and later became a loan officer. She then became a closer with title companies in the secondary market before working compliance with a brokerage firm that had 17 branches in as many states.

“I understand the whole mortgage world,” she said. “When that was done, I moved into underwriting FHA, USDA and moving into VA when the tribe asked me to help them. ‘Can you help us figure out a homeownership mechanism?” At the time, she said, the tribal communities were growing exponentially.