In summary we found that the relocation program was not completed
in 1986, as anticipated, because more families than expected
applied for relocation, and the Navajo reservation had
insufficient land to accommodate new homesites for all the
relocatees who wanted to move there. As of December 31, 1990,
1,894 families -- 68 percent of those eligible--had relocated.
Ninety-nine percent of these families were Navajo. The remaining
888 eligible families have not yet relocated.
. . . the relocation program is still ongoing with no firm
target completion date. The Relocation Office certified 2,782
families (2,757 Navajo and 25 Hopi families) as eligible for
relocation under the program as of 12/31/90.
In addition, the Relocation Office estimates that about 50 more
Navajo families who are resisting relocation are on the Hopi
Partition Lands, whereas the Navajo Nation estimates that about
300 families are resisting relocation.
While relocated families may have subsequently become homeless as
a result of problems they encountered, neither the Relocation
Office nor the Navajo Nation has statistics on the extent of
homelessness.
Families still awaiting relocation are also experiencing
problems. In a survey of these families conducted by the
Relocation Office between February an the end of April 1987, 54
percent of about 1,000 respondents said they were living in
inadequate homes, and 35 percent said they were having home
maintenance and repair problems.
FUTURE OF NAVAJOS RESISTING RELOCATION
. . . If these families do not voluntarily apply for relocation
benefits, they may be forcibly removed from the Hopi Partitioned
Lands under the U.S. Attorney's authority--an alternative both
the Relocation Office and the Navajo Nation would like to avoid.
. . .
In a separate action, the Navajo Nation is negotiating with the
Hopi Tribe to consider land exchanges that would allow the
resisters to remain legally on the Hopi Partitioned Lands.
BENNETT FREEZE AREA
A land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi tribes, not covered by
the 1974 Land Settlement Act, involves the Bennett Freeze Area.
PROGRAM COMPLETION
It was anticipated that relocation would be completed in 5 years.
This period was established on the basis of available data from
the US Census Bureau and the Department of Interior's BIA that
showed that 1,000 families were to be relocated. . . . This
date was not met because instead of the anticipated 1,000
families, over 4,000 families applied for relocation benefits.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY EARLY RELOCATEES WHO MOVED OFF THE
RESERVATION
>From the start of the program through 1983, about two-thirds of
the families who relocated moved off the reservation. According
to the Relocation Office, many of these families faced
difficulties in adjusting to off-reservation living because they
had little or no knowledge of English or laced experience in
off-reservation home ownership. Some off-reservation relocatees
did not pay utility bills, insurance, and taxes; had difficulty
obtaining steady employment, and laced funds to maintain their
replacement homes; or incurred excessive debts. The Relocation
Office did not have specific statistics on the extent of these
problems.
Of 631 off-reservation replacement homes acquired through April
1987 (the most recent data published), 453 (72%) were still owned
by relocatees, according to the Relocation Office. However, the
Relocation Office said that the families who continue to occupy
these homes may encounter problems such as not being able to pay
for home repairs, utilities, taxes, and insurance.
PROBLEMS FACED BY RELOCATEES AWAITING RELOCATION
The Navajo families who still reside on the Hopi Partitioned
Lands also face problems. For example, in 1972 the U.S. District
Court for the District of Arizona ruled that homeowners living in
the disputed area (now the partitioned lands) had to get
permission from both the Hopi and Navajo tribes to make any home
repairs or improvements. However, the Relocation Office told us
that the Hopi Tribe seldom authorized housing repairs or
improvements for Navajo homesites on the Hopi Partitioned Lands.
Further, the Hopi Tribe has impounded Navajo families' livestock
that exceeded reductions in grazing limits imposed by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs.
IMPROVEMENTS TO SERVICES
The Relocation Office has made improvements in relocatee services
including pre-move and post-move counseling; home acquisition
assistance, and home inspection and repair programs.
FUTURE OF NAVAJOS RESISTING RELOCATION
The families are eligible for relocation benefits but have not
yet applied for them. These resisters are generally older,
traditional Navajos with strong cultural ties to the land and
their livestock.