The Shinnecock Indian Nation’s Solution to the Challenge of Poverty Driven Homelessness

The Shinnecock Indian Nation’s Solution to the Challenge of Poverty Driven Homelessness
Contributed and Written by Phillip Brown, Housing Director, Shinnecock Nation
Released: February 2, 2022

In April of 2020, members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation decided to address the problem of homelessness within their tribe. Observations revealed three living situations.

• First, some homeless sleep in cars, tents,  or live inside substandard campers not equipped for winter living with little or no heat or running water.
• Second, others travel nightly from house to house to impose on the kindness of random citizens who allow them to sleep on their sofas. This creates overcrowded, unsafe living conditions and increases the potential for exposure to COVID-19, and other contagious diseases, to tribal members within our community.
• Last but not least, we identified a category of homelessness among those citizens who have their own land allotments but do not have the help, financial means, or knowledge and skill to build and maintain a livable home within a sustainable community.

Contributing Factors   

• Homelessness primarily takes the form of doubling up rather than sleeping on the street, therefore it is less conspicuous in Indian Country versus other communities.
• Across the United States, 1 in 3 Native Americans are living in poverty, with a median income of $23,000 a year.
• Overall changes in the US economy have especially impacted Native peoples, including the loss of a large number of jobs in construction and manufacturing, the decline of the minimum wage, and the increase in unstable employment.
• There is a declining relationship between working and a job’s ability to help tribal members get out of poverty.
• Employment is the most significant factor in driving poverty.
• The payoff to education is not nearly as high as the payoff to jobs.

Shinnecock Indian Nation Solution  

In response to the Nation’s need to prepare for and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus as well as address its homeless and transient population, the Shinnecock Nation Council of Trustees (COT) decided to plan, develop, and construct a 6-building Homeless Transitional Housing Development (HTHD) using funds provided by the Cares Act Funding. A one-acre site was chosen and cleared, and will include 5 one-bedroom sustainable Hunter Shelters Homes provided through Dynamic Supplier Alignment (DSA). The units are 12’ x 24’ and can be erected or taken down in one day leaving no footprint or impact to the environment. A  32’ X 48’ Chaleff design Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) permanent Services Building will also be constructed and can be used as an Emergency Storm Shelter that will withstand a category 5 hurricane. 

Our Homeless Transitional Housing Development (HTHD) will not be a permanent housing solution. Instead, it will allow our citizens a transitional environment with stable living conditions where they can safely shelter in place while working to improve themselves and their life circumstances. In addition to housing Shinnecock’s homeless population, our program will offer HTHD residents the training and services necessary to aid them in the next steps of resolving their housing dilemma. We applied this holistic thinking to the construct of our housing designs and have devised plans which offer tenants and other tribal members training and employment opportunities in new locally created and locally made sustainable building and clean energy technologies while living within our model housing development. We will connect residents with resources to aid in their own affordable housing goals and provide ideas for energy efficient and sustainable designs which they would incorporate into their own permanent living structures.

Working with Stony Brook University, Eastern Suffolk BOCES, and The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, we will create training programs that will certify and enable the licensing of a local workforce in all aspects of both the construction and clean energy installation and maintenance. This specialized workforce will include Shinnecock personnel and all others interested in learning these unique construction and clean energy applications, Supply Chain Management,  installation, maintenance, system monitoring and data collection skills. Union involvement combined with local supply chain development strategies will ensure employment goals and job placement are achieved in this fast-growing market segment. 

Equipped with the knowledge and expertise to construct and maintain these panelized structures and clean energy systems, the Shinnecock Indian Nation and Long Island community will be able to lead other nationwide parties interested in replicating and installing these economical, energy efficient and sustainable solutions starting with the disadvantaged communities across the nation and then the world to preserve and save Mother Earth. 

Phillip Brown has been the Shinnecock Nation Housing Director since December 2019. Prior to this position, Phillip worked more than 35-years in the home and commercial building industry within the towns of Southampton and Easthampton. Throughout his service for the Shinnecock tribe, Phillip attended national conferences where he was exposed to various tribal and renewable energy projects such as solar and wind that were being adopted across Indian Country. As a result, Phillip strives to embrace, educate, and include energy efficiency and renewable energy components in any new housing or building initiatives that he undertakes.