Tsigo bugeh Village Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority

Restoring communal living through Pueblo-style housing, the Tsigo bugeh Village offers “traditional living with a modern touch” for Ohkay Owingeh citizens. Designed to honor a sense of community and place, Tsigo bugeh addresses Ohkay Owingeh’s urgent housing demands with 40 units for single and multigenerational families, all in a modern design that echoes millennia of traditional Pueblo living.

Because Indian trust land cannot be used as collateral for loans, residents had trouble raising private capital for housing. At the same time, federal assistance was not meeting the community’s need for shelter. Although Ohkay Owingeh citizens had lived since time immemorial in a dense core of one- and two-story adobe pueblos, federal policy called for homes spaced at least 100 feet apart in a typical suburban pattern. As the population of Ohkay Owingeh grew in the late 20th century, this low-density housing used up available land quickly, leaving the reservation with less and less open space.

Tsigo bugeh is designed with the rhythms of Ohkay Owingeh life in mind. The units can house single or multi-generational families and most are reserved for households making 40-60% of the area’s median income.

To make the vision a reality, Ohkay Owingeh used federal low income tax credits for much of the funding, in addition to an annual federal housing grant of $700,000. The Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority also worked with many partners to combine a mix of loans, grants, and federal tax credits, and the Authority leveraged the flow of rental payments over thirty years as capital for the project.

Because Tsigo bugeh’s array of funding sources broke new ground, financial education was a crucial part of the project. Over the course of two years, the Tribal Council invested in learning all aspects of the federal low income housing tax credit: how it worked, what risks were involved, what reserves were needed, and how to qualify. The Housing Authority offered budgeting and debt counseling to Tsigo bugeh tenants to help make sure that rent obligations were met.

Tsigo bugeh Village introduces pueblo values and culture into the design of public housing for the first time since federal housing assistance began to suburbanize the reservation. Ohkay Owingeh citizens can now enjoy living close to their neighbors in modern units that are inspired by the wisdom and traditions of their ancestors.