BAYFIELD -- The first-ever new housing development using tribal and state resources was dedicated at the Red Cliff Indian reservation last week. This will be the first of five housing projects at tribes around Wisconsin.
A section of houses overlooking a span of forest and Lake Superior's Apostle Islands are now homes for four families in the tribal community.
"It's like a beautiful neighborhood," says Antonio Riley, director of Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). "If one would look at those houses one would think 'My God, it's settings like this where people would build $600,000 homes and it's for low-income and moderate income people."
Red Cliff Tribal Planner Tim Funk says the project was five years in the making. Tribal governments and the state made it happen in an area afflicted by poverty and a housing shortage.
"There aren't that many places to live that are open right now and not that many viable structures," says Funk. "So we need places for folks to live and especially folks who are struggling. So this is absolutely something the community has been looking forward to for a long time."
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Funk says it's significant that these are single-family homes and not a large apartment complex. Riley says kids need a good place to grow up, and there are 11 children among the four families now occupying the newly-dedicated section.
"This is an example of how the state and the sovereign Ojibwe nation can work together," Riley adds.
