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Welcome to the CARE 66 blog. We are a small non profit whose mission is to create opportunities to end homelessness. We do this by providing support services and a variety of housing opportunities to our clients ranging from transitional housing to permanent housing with support services.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

PRESS: NHA commits $6 million for downtown Gallup supportive housing development

From the Navajo Housing Authority Website:

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Sanjay Choudhrie CARE 66 Executive Director presents an artist’s rendering of the proposed 44-unit Hooghan Hozho supportive housing development during grand opening event luncheon held at Sammy C’s in Gallup. 

GALLUP, New Mexico — With a $6 million commitment from Navajo Housing Authority (NHA), the Community Area Resource Enterprise (CARE 66) held a groundbreaking ceremony for a 44-unit, multi-family, mixed-income supportive housing rental development in downtown Gallup, on East Coal Avenue on May 29.

The 44-unit, three-level, Hooghan Hozho housing project is scheduled for completion next April and will include resident facilities, offices, and incorporate several outdoor courtyards.

Sanjay Choudhrie, executive director of CARE 66, expressed appreciation for the project and its partners.

“The groundbreaking represents a wonderful breakthrough because from this point forward we are now going to figure how to construct the building as oppose to how are we going to get enough partners and finances for the project,” said Choudhrie. “We have come to this place because of the faith that the NHA Board of Commissioners and executive team at NHA has placed on us and we are very grateful for the opportunity and look forward to working on other projects with NHA.”

On Jan. 26, 2011, the NHA board of commissioners passed Resolution NHA-4146-2011, by a vote of 6-0-0, authorizing the issuance of a Letter of Commitment for $6 million to CARE 66. Funding would come from the 2011 Indian Housing Plan funded by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA) Indian Housing Block Grant Funding.

“NHA understands that a lot of our Navajo people live in the border towns of the Navajo Nation,” said NHA Board Chairman Edward T. Begay. “Our partnership with CARE 66 is an opportunity to help our Navajo people in Gallup who often times find them selves in desperate need of housing.”

Other funding sources for the project came from Bonneville Capital, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Gallup and McKinley County.

“About 50 percent of the people that live in Gallup are Navajo,” said Rhonda Berg, CARE 66 Housing Development Director. “It’s a wonderful partnership that NHA is getting started for the benefit of Native Americans.”

“Of the 44 units, 30 units are to be housed by Navajo families according to the provisions of NAHASDA,” Berg added. “Construction is set to take place in July on this year and will take about 10 – 12 months to complete.”

In March 2012, CARE 66 also opened a 21-unit supportive housing complex that provides transitional and affordable housing in the former Lexington Hotel in downtown Gallup, New Mexico. The NHA provided $1 million NAHASDA funding to CARE 66 for the rehab and renovation of the Lexington Hotel. CARE 66 said of the 21 rooms, 10 rooms are set aside to assist Native Americans.

According to CARE 66’s website, the median income for a household in McKinley County was $25,005, and the median income for a family was $26,806. The per capita income for the county was $9,872. About 31.90% of families and 36.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.30% of those under age 18 and 31.50% of those ages 65 or over. The county's per-capita income makes it one of the poorest counties in the United States.


Care 66 is a nonprofit Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) based in Gallup, New Mexico with the mission to create opportunities to end homelessness. CARE 66 is the minority partner in Chuska Apartments, a green Low Income Housing Tax Credit affordable housing development, which provides thirty units of affordable housing to low-income families including ten homeless families. Besides developing affordable housing, CARE 66 provides support services, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals. CARE 66 is supported units work by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Veterans Administration, Navajo Housing Authority, the City of Gallup, McKinley County, New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, private citizens and foundations according to CARE 66 ‘s website.

For more information about this story and the Navajo Housing Authority, please visit their website: http://www.hooghan.org/.

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