* Dishwasher

* Self - Cleaning Oven

* Frost Free

* Exercise Room

* Elevator on each floor

* Spectacular

Ship's Watch

Apartments 4001

North Main Street

Fall River, MA 02720

Call (508) 677-2400

By Heather Wysocki
MASHPEE - The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is still strug­gling to place land into federal trust, but it's moving ahead on plans to build a federally sup­ported housing complex for tribal members.
Wampanoag leaders have filed an application with the state Department of Housing and Community Development to build a $19 million afford­able housing complex. The state determines the project's eligibil­ity, but grants and other funding would come from the federal government.

"Here's a tribe that fed the Pilgrims in the 1600s and they have never had governmen­tal housing,"       

Leon Jacobs, the tribe's interim housing coordi­nator and tribal administrator, said. -
Jacobs was regional adminis­trator of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Develop­ment's Office of Native Ameri­can Programs in Chicago until 1994 and has served as admin­istrator for the Washoe and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.

Once the Mashpee Wampanoag were granted fed­eral recognition in 2007, they became eligible to apply for federal grants - and they have Leaders file application with government to build $19 million affordable Apartment complex already won a $2 million grant to begin the housing project's permitting process, Jacobs said.

The tribe does not have a for­mal reservation and has been struggling against a federal rul­ing that tribes        

recognized after 1934 may not create one.
The tribe is looking to finance the housing through a combina­tion of mostly federal grants and tax credits for affordable hous­ing projects, which it already has applied for, he said.
It also has the right, under a HUD rule, to express "Indian preference" when taking appli­cations for the housing and for choosing construction contracts, he said, meaning the project would provide both housing and jobs to tribe members.
The tribe's application is for 52 affordable apartments on a tribe-owned 27.33-acre plot between Meetinghouse Road and Noisy Hole Road. A com­munity center and 104-spot parking area also would be built, the application states.
If the project is approved, units specified for tribal elders would be built first,
Jacobs said.

Construction of a wastewater treatment plant for the hous­ing complex is scheduled tc be completed by the end of the month, he said.

Rents for the units will vary based on how far below the pov­erty level a renter is, according to the application. For example, someone below 30 percent of the HUD-determined median income for the region could rent a two-bedroom apartment for $509 including utilities, while someone making below 60    

per­cent the median income would pay $1,016.
The median household income in Barnstable County from 2005 to 2009 was $60,096, according to the Times archives.

The Mashpee selectmen and town officials have until Jan. 19 to comment on the project, according to a letter sent to the selectmen from the state hous­ing department. But officials have not formulated comments yet,Town Manager Joyce Mason said Monday.

The state will then deter­mine if the project is eligible to receive tax credits and if it will receive funding, which typi­cally takes about three months, according to a spokeswoman with the state housing office.
The tribe will then be required to file a local compre­hensive permit with the town which it plans to do within 60 days, Jacobs said..

Although permitting and con­struction could take up to twc years, the tribe is hoping the process will be smooth.