Senators call for GAO Report on the VA’s Native American Direct Loan Program

U.S. Senator MIke Rounds

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC), along with SVAC Chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Ranking Member Jon Tester (D-Mont.), led their committee colleagues in calling for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Native American Direct Loan program (NADL). This program allows eligible Native American veterans to finance the construction, purchase or improvement of a home on Federal trust land.

“Given the passage of time since your 2002 report, the findings from your report, program changes since 2002, and the current low levels of participation by Native American veterans in the NADL program, we are concerned that the program is not effectively serving Native American veterans as intended,” wrote the senators.

The senators provided seven questions for Gene L. Dodaro, head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, to address in his evaluation of the NADL program.

1. What steps has VA taken to collect comprehensive data on Native American veterans eligible to participate in the NADL program and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in serving them?
2. How does the VA Loan Guarantee Service administer the NADL program and to what extent does the organizational structure of this service facilitate or impede the ability of Native American veterans to obtain mortgage credit?
3. What actions has and could VA take to improve access to credit and financial literacy, such as through development of formal partnerships with organizations that could provide home buying education and mortgage application support?
4. What practices does USDA’s pilot program use to provide such education and application support and how do these practices compare to those used by VA?
5. How does the VA Loan Guaranty Service’s reliance on the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Tribal Status Report impact the timeliness of VA’s loan servicing operations?
6. What appraisal practices need to be reviewed that specifically relate to Native American home buyers, including those on Native American reservations?
7. Any other questions that the GAO thinks would be useful to address concerning Native American veterans’ participation in the VA’s NADL program.

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