Make It Right Announces Fort Peck Reservation Project

We’re delighted to announce our newest project on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana! Read the details below and click here if you’d like to support our work.

Make It Right and Native American Tribes Announce Sustainable Housing Project

May 28, 2013 – Today Make It Right announced that it will partner with the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes of Fort Peck, Montana to build sustainable homes on their reservation. Make It Right will build 20 Cradle to Cradle-inspired, LEED Platinum homes for tribe members in need of housing.  Make It Right also committed to develop a sustainable master plan for the entire reservation, which covers thousands of acres and is home to almost 7,000 Native Americans.

“We are excited to begin work with the Fort Peck Reservation, a community that shares our vision and values,” said Tom Darden, Executive Director, Make It Right. “We are taking what we’ve learned about designing affordable, sustainable homes and buildings and sharing it with communities in need across the country, from Newark to Kansas City and now Fort Peck.”

Last year, tribe leaders invited Make It Right staff to visit the reservation and discuss their housing needs. Currently, hundreds of families are waiting for housing. Overcrowding is a chronic problem on the Fort Peck Reservation where multiple families commonly live together in two bedroom homes.

“As a sovereign nation, the Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation are strongest when we develop a future that reflects our distinct culture and proud history of land stewardship,” said Stoney Anketell, Fort Peck Tribal Councilman. “Our vision of the future is to have tribal communities that are healthy and sustainable. We could not be more pleased with our partnership with Make It Right, Integrated Solutions and the Tribes of Fort Peck.”

Make It Right’s work on the Fort Peck Reservation will begin in June 2013 with community-driven design meetings. Tribal leaders and future homeowners will meet with Make It Right’s architects and designers to discuss housing needs and vision for their new neighborhood. Design work will be completed in September and construction is scheduled to begin in March 2014.

The solar and geothermal powered homes will have 3-4 bedrooms and 2-3 bathrooms and be available to tribe members whose income levels are at or below 60% of the Area Median Income. A percentage of the homes will be dedicated to senior adult and disabled veteran housing. Homeownership will be structured through a Low Income Housing Tax Credit Rent-to-Own program with ownership transferring to the tenant after 15 years of renting.

Support our work providing healthy homes for families in need.

About Make It Right:
Founded by Brad Pitt, Make It Right builds healthy homes, buildings and communities for people in need. All Make It Right projects are LEED Platinum certified and Cradle to Cradle-inspired – meeting the highest standards of green building. In addition to continuing its work rebuilding New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward, Make It Right is also building homes and a community complex in Kansas City, Missouri and completed a 56-unit apartment building for disabled veterans in Newark, New Jersey in 2012. 

Questions? Contact Taylor Royle at [email protected]

UPDATED: Read our trip diary from community design meetings on the Fort Peck Reservation.
Day One – Staggering Need
Day Two – A Vision for New Homes
Day Three – Planning for the Future, Preserving the Past
Day Four – Reflections