Pine Ridge Reservation needs more housing - KOTA Territory News

Pine Ridge Reservation needs more housing

When you look at some homes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation you may see broken windows, holes, garbage, and more holes. This is an extreme case, but there simply aren't enough livable houses on the reservation.

"There's a lot of need for housing," said maintenance supervisor Robin Condon. "We go into some of these houses and there's a lot of people living there. There's just no houses nowhere for people to live."

Robin Condon works for the Oglala Sioux Housing Authority, and when there's a problem with a tenant's home, he and his fifteen man crew are the ones who respond.

"People do need help out there," said Condon. "It's critical in some conditions and we need all the help we can get."

And help is what the Housing Authority hopes to bring. Today was the grand opening of a new office building that will centralize the organization. "We have our hands full everyday there ain't a dull moment in that office," said Chief Executive Officer Paul Iron Cloud.

The Housing Authority manages 1,100 low income housing units. "And I always said that we need 4,000 homes here," said Iron Cloud.

Lack of housing means that families often bunk together, and Iron Cloud said he knows of one three-bedroom house with 18 people living there.

But Danielle Two Eagle says there are some people that don't have a family to take them in. "That's just sad when somebody doesn't have no place to go at all," said Two Eagle.

But hope still thrives in the Oglala people, and Iron Cloud says the housing crisis can be fixed.