Thus, this project gathered broader information regarding home ownership and mortgage lending in the Twin Cities Indian community through conversations and interviews. Understanding the components and process for home ownership was a challenge for Indian people leaving the reservations during the early period of urbanization. A place to call home can mean Indian Country, a particular neighborhood, or the reservation for example. Even though many American Indians live, work, and perhaps were born in an urban area, there remains strong ties to extended families living on the reservation and to the reservation itself. Many Indian community members and housing providers noted that home ownership could possibly complement cultural needs of Indian people.
Home ownership can include family or generational housing.
These households would have a difficult time accessing home ownership in the conventional lending market. This is almost half of all American Indian households in the state. For American Indians in Minnesota, the HMDA dataset had 523 loan applications in 1992. The reject rate for American Indian applications in Minnesota was 11.3 percent. For whites, the reject rate was approximately 7.5 percent.