Cow Creek Umpqua Advances Housing Plans with $4.9 Million Grant, New Construction
ROSEBURG, OR. — The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians announced a significant step forward Thursday to expand housing options for local Tribal families, with the added benefit of relieving wider stress on housing availability in Douglas County.
The Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe learned this week that they have been awarded a $4.9 million Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the construction and planning of more affordable housing for Tribal members. The Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe plans to use the funds to build seven newly constructed single-family homes in the Wìli Tribal Housing neighborhood located in Myrtle Creek, Oregon. The homes are slated to be two-bedroom and two-bathroom, accessibility capable, with the entire project completed by September 2029.
“Affordable housing for our Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal citizens is such a crucial component of self-sufficiency,” said Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal Chairman Carla Keene. “It helps families and individuals feel a sense of security, stability, tradition, and provides a place for lasting, living memories. We are thrilled to receive this generous grant and look forward to the positive contributions it will make in Douglas County.”
“Building homes for our Tribal members does more than fulfill our own responsibilities to our Tribal families,” said Cow Creek Umpqua CEO Michael Rondeau. “It eases pressure on the broader housing market. Every family we house is one less family competing for the limited homes available in Roseburg and throughout the county.”
Just days after that news was received, Cow Creek Umpqua Tribal leaders gathered to mark the groundbreaking for a new four-plex in the same Wìli Tribal Housing neighborhood. Construction of that complex is being funded partially by an Oregon Housing and Community Services Tribal Housing Grant, as well as Tribal government revenue. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom units are expected to be ready to rent to Tribal families by early 2028.
“This is our first multi-family development on the low-income housing side, as well as being open to 120% AMI (Area Median Income),” said Pamela Culbertson, Housing Officer for the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians. “This means some of our Tribal families who are slightly higher income but may not be quite ready to buy a home can still get the support they need in order to reach the next level of homeownership.”
Wìli – which means “house” in Takelma, the ancestral language of the Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe – currently owns and maintains 64 homes that are rented to Tribal families and affiliate Tribal members. More than 90% of the homes are designated for low-income families, who pay no more than 25% of their household monthly income as rent.
As part of the IHBG grant awards, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs also received $5 million for affordable housing construction of seven homes. Overall, the most recent IHBG grants awarded $150 million to 31 federally-recognized Tribes for the construction of 463 housing units across the country.
For additional information, contact Communications Director Lindsay Campman, lcampman@cowcreek-nsn.gov, (541) 529-9159
