The Shelter Gap
A three-part series examining barriers to buying, renting and building homes on reservation land and highlighting the community benefits of secure housing.
Housing insecurity touches almost everyone in tribal communities in Montana. Its causes and consequences are deep-rooted, confoundingly complex, and often overlooked.
The Shelter Gap documents Indian Country’s housing crisis, investigates the root causes of chronic housing shortages on reservation land, and highlights what’s possible when residents achieve stable housing.
This three-part series was produced with support from the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.
READ THE SERIES
No roads home: How a chronic housing shortage keeps reservation communities in crisis.
Reservation housing shortages force young residents to seek opportunities far from home and discourage financially secure citizens from returning, perpetuating economic stagnation and cycles of poverty.
The development conundrum: Why is housing so hard to build in Indian Country?
Housing challenges on reservation land can be traced to more than a century of federal policies that have congealed into almost insurmountable impediments to development in Indian Country.
House and home: When housing works, tribal communities win
Blackfeet Community College President Brad Hall’s path to homeownership highlights the community-wide benefits that become possible when reservation residents are able to access secure and adequate housing.
No shouting. No name calling. Just local Montana reporters working for you.
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