BIHA and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska have released the final report on Sitka’s Tribal Housing Needs. Expanding affordable housing and housing improvement programs was the top objective
identified in the Sitka Tribe of Alaska 2022 Strategic Plan. BIHA’s last housing needs assessment was conducted in 2017. Since then, housing and home energy costs and the cost of developing new housing have increased significantly. The report brings together federal census data, state-based housing and demographic data, as well as surveys of Tribal Citizens living in Sitka, and Sitka Tribe of Alaska Tribal Citizens living outside of Sitka.
Key Findings
- Sitka is losing Native residents, including younger residents at a disproportionate rate – more than twice as fast as the overall rate of population between 2000 and 2022.
- Tribal Citizens are being squeezed out of Sitka’s increasingly tight housing market – the average 2023 market value of a single-family home in Sitka is $531,323; homeownership is increasingly out of reach for Native households with an average income of $73,700.
- Vulnerable individuals are relying on family, friends, and emergency shelters. Thirty percent of Tribal households surveyed reported that they had other people staying in their homes over the past year because family or friends could not afford a place to live.
- Current development models will not produce the housing that Tribal households need. Different types of housing, development strategies, partnerships, and new sources of funding will be required to ensure that Sitka’s Tribal Citizens can afford to continue to live in their traditional homeland.
See the final report here.