Story by Ashton Eley and Ginny Monk
Main interview by Quincy Ward and Taylor Pray
Background research/interviews by Haleigh Ball
Edited by Julia Trupp

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A 29-year-old doctoral student is planning to buy a home in Northwest Arkansas soon, but as she walks down the street in her high heels, no one around her knows. No one knows how monumental this milestone is for her and her family, she said, having been raised by a impoverished Native American family attempting to overcome the still-prevalent issues resulting from displacement 100 years ago.

“That’s a big deal because I’m 29 years old, and I have collateral, and nobody else in my family has anything like that,” said Christina Woods, a member of the Cherokee Nation.

The Native American population makes up about 1 percent of the population living in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metro Area, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Nationally, one in four Native Americans are living in poverty, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center study.

Native Americans have the highest home mortgage loan denial rate of any race or ethnicity in the area at almost 31 percent – 10 percent higher than the next highest racial group – African Americans. They also have the lowest median family income, at $31,041, according to 2014 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act loan records.

Graphic by Ashton Eley | from class archive

Joanna Donohoe, a partner at Seven Sisters Community Development Group, LLC, has researched home-buying issues and worked with Native groups on and off reservations. When considering the circumstances of natives off tribal land, she said the high denial rate could be caused by a combination of financial and cultural factors that can lead to mismanagement of funds and poor or no credit.

“Where a young family in mainstream America may go to college, get married, buy their own home and start building their credit; young native people don’t have those same opportunities,” she said. “They may stay home to help take care of elders. They may not have as many opportunities because of education issues. A lot of them may be economically related, but could be cultural as well, and historical.”

The most common reason for home loan application denials was credit history, according to HMDA data. Woods agreed with the findings.

“It absolutely makes sense – we are group of people that was displaced over 100 years ago,” Woods said. “If you drive through Oklahoma where everybody’s family lives, people still live in poverty.”  

Only 13 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives – as they are referred to and grouped – hold a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to the 28 percent for the general population, according to the US Census Bureau’s 2006–2010 American Community Survey. Woods is part of the 4 percent earning higher than a bachelor’s; she is a doctoral student and an academic adviser in the Agriculture Food and Life Sciences Department at the University of Arkansas – not far from home.

She grew up in Gentry, which is about 45 minutes outside of Fayetteville and near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. Her Cherokee heritage can be traced back to northern Georgia, where her ancestors lived almost a century ago, before they were displaced by Andrew Jackson’s administration.

“We had a farm, we grew crops, we had homes, we had taverns,” Woods said. “There’s nothing once we get to Indian Territory; nobody has anything. We lost our land to taxes, because we couldn’t afford to pay the taxes.”

Christina Woods shows off a hand-embroidered Cherokee alphabet in her office on the University of Arkansas campus Dec. 1. Photo by Taylor Pray

Woods met with a realtor a few weeks ago, but said she realized that with her salary, she would need to buy a Rural Development loan. Both tribal and federal programs assist Native Americans with home purchases, but none living in Arkansas qualify because there are no federally recognized tribal or trust lands in the state.

On trust land, natives can also struggle with buying a home, which can be difficult because “collateral is a little more complicated,” Donohoe said, and it requires boutique loans from banks. For banks like Wells Fargo or Bank of America, they don’t do these types of designer loans anymore, she said.

“When you are dealing with a situation where there are Indian reservations, the status of the land varies because of federal Indian policies,” Donohoe said. “So, in many cases, you will see lower rates of home ownership because of the land status.”

While those living off reservations may find it easier – at least less complicated – to use their land as collateral for their home, people like Woods would also not be receiving the same kind of federal and tribe-based assistance they would be receiving on the reservation.

“You’re kind of in a catch 22, because a lot of the programs that do outreach to those folks – who would usually help a first-time homebuyer or someone in a low-income area – they may not target Native people because there is this assumption that a tribe is taking care of them,” Donohoe said. “But in many cases the tribe says, ‘Well you’re not on the reservation. We’re not serving urban tribal members.’ So in some cases, those folks fall through the cracks.”

Woods’ family has very little earning power, she said. The home that her mother, who was once homeless, lives in is the first permanent home anyone in her family has had since Indian removal. Woods owns about three acres of land that once belonged to her father. Although the land tract is small, Woods said, she’ll use it as collateral when she buys her first home.

“But most of the Native American population around here, that is going to own land, it is going to be one county over into Oklahoma. It is not going to be in Arkansas,” said Stacy Leeds, University of Arkansas School of Law dean and member of the Cherokee Nation.

In contrast to the Native population, those of Asian descent in Northwest Arkansas hold the lowest home mortgage loan denial rate of anyone – including whites – at less than 10 percent, according to the HMDA data. They also have the have the highest income in the area and are by far the most likely to hold a college degree nationally: 50 percent hold a bachelor’s degree or higher and of those, 40 percent have a percent with graduate or professional degree, according to U.S. Census Bureau survey.

The generational transfer of wealth, which depends on both cultural norms and individual family finances, seems to have a clear impact on home buying, according to interviews with home buyers and mortgage lending experts.

Mohammed Khaja, who now works as a research engineer at Silicon Solar Solutions, moved to Fayetteville from Hyderabad, India about 10 years ago to earn his master’s in electrical engineering at the University of Arkansas. His wife, Shaik Tahareem, moved to Fayetteville one year ago, and Mohammed thought it was time to look for a house, he said. His father, who still lives in India and commutes to southern Arabia for work, was the first to suggest buying a home.

“He instigated all the ideas to me,” he said. “… He was ready to send the money for me to cover the down payment as well. So, he is very supportive I would say. Usually, I would say that is the same case in all of India: the parents will support the child to buy a house.”

Although Woods is still researching ways to pay for her new home, she is looking forward to establishing her own family home with her husband.

“I want it to look cute and homey, that’s important to me,” Woods said. “I want to buy a house that I can stay in for a long time.”