Navajo leaders clash over $24 million ZenniHome housing funds, accountability

$24 million in federal housing money tied to ZenniHome has become a flashpoint between the Navajo Nation Council and President Buu Nygren’s administration, with Speaker Crystalyne Curley, Budget and Finance Committee chair Shaandiin Parrish and Controller Sean McCabe now at the center of a fight over accountability, procurement and who gets to define what happened to the funds.

The Council renewed its push for answers during McCabe’s report at the Spring Session, after launching formal oversight in July 2025 under Legislation No. 0174-25. Parrish sponsored the measure to hold hearings and seek subpoena power, and the Council said it was examining whether $24 million in federal ARPA funds were improperly awarded or administered through the housing initiative. The Council also said reports it received alleged that contracts and payments connected to ZenniHome and Indigenous Design Studio + Architecture LLC did not comply with Navajo Nation laws, regulations or procurement policies.

McCabe sharpened the dispute when he said his office could confirm a wire transfer of $23.5 million to Indigenous Design Studio + Architecture LLC on Jan. 7, 2025, and that he was not aware of any ZenniHome houses having been delivered. He also said the issue had created significant internal strife and that his office would not take part in political messaging. Nygren’s office, meanwhile, said no money had gone missing and that the grant was terminated, with the money remaining in tribal accounts. The administration accused Curley of using the issue for political messaging as she enters the presidential race.

The money trail matters because the housing promise has already been cut down. Nygren spoke at a ZenniHome factory grant-signing ceremony in LeChee, Arizona, on March 7, 2024, when the project was described as 200 units for Navajo families, elders and veterans. Later reporting put the plan at 160 homes for $44 million. On July 3, 2025, the Navajo Nation reduced ZenniHome’s work order again, to 80 homes for $22 million. That same month, ZenniHome closed its LeChee factory on July 14, saying it had suffered more than $47 million in unrecoverable losses and that more than 200 workers were affected.

The fallout has moved beyond politics. In February 2026, a New Mexico architecture firm sued ZenniHome over allegations that nearly $22 million in federal funds intended for Navajo housing was misused and that none of the 160 modular homes had been delivered. A court-appointed special prosecutor later began examining how Navajo housing dollars were used after the shutdown, turning a housing promise into a wider test of oversight in Window Rock and across Navajo communities waiting for completed homes.