Gerald Howard: Support self-determination in Tribal TANF rules

The welfare program tailored to tribal governments—Tribal TANF—is a critical tool to address the disproportionate poverty in Indian Country. However convoluted federal rules limit the positive impacts of this program by forcing tribal governments to choose between economic development and critical services for their most vulnerable members. This needs to change.

Current law sets up a fundamental conflict in how tribes should run Tribal TANF programs. On one hand, the law requires the Secretary to promote Indian self-determination; the principle that tribal services should be administered by tribal governments, on tribal lands, whenever possible. On the other hand, the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the TANF program, also interprets the law in a way that precludes tribal governments from entering into leases for TANF facilities on tribal land at fair market rates.

This restriction may be an appropriate safeguard of federal taxpayer dollars in large jurisdictions with multiple landowners, such as states, where there are many options for office space. But it demonstrates a deep misunderstanding of tribal lands, where the government is often the only owner of commercial property.