Lumbee Tribe Housing Department is Changing Lives One Home at a Time


By Bradley Locklear


members of the Lumbee Tribe of NC, find that over time, the safety and sanitary living conditions of their home have become inadequate. These families who cannot afford to make the necessary repairs to their home and who qualify for assistance under federal guidelines, can work with the tribe’s Home Rehabilitation Program to restore their home back to a safe and sanitary condition. Recently, we had an elder tribal member who was still living in her “home-place,” a place where she was born and raised. Upon her parents’ passing, she inherited the


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ften, our members,


especially elder


home where she has lived with her husband for the past thirty years. This place is where her family gathers to fry fish and cook-out on the fourth of July. It is also where they gather for Christmas and Easter dinners. On any given Sunday, it is the place where their children and grandchildren visit after church to share a meal and sit under the sycamore tree in her front yard to remember past times. For many of her children and


grandchildren, it was a safe haven from hard times. When they had nowhere else to turn, they had their “home-place.” Over the years, the home has started


to show its age. The floor sags in a few places and the roof has battled more than its fair share of storms as evidenced by a few missing shingles. Her husband, now in his 70’s, recently had a minor stroke. He regularly needs help getting up the steps into the house and transitioning in and out of the bath.


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