Navajo Nation advances housing contract investigation into missed home deliveries
McKinley County families waiting on promised Navajo homes may get answers in June as lawmakers probe about $24 million tied to Zenni Homes and IDSA.
Families in McKinley County who have waited for promised Navajo homes will soon see the first formal hearings on where the money went and why no completed units have arrived. The Navajo Nation Budget and Finance Committee advanced Resolution No. BFMY-14-26 on May 19 in a 5-0 vote, setting investigatory hearings to begin June 8 and, if needed, continue through June 19.
The committee said the hearings will examine procurement, contract modifications, deliverables, invoicing and payments tied to Zenni Homes, Indigenous Design Studio + Architects, and other vendors. Members said they had received oral and written reports from officials, employees and community members alleging the contracts and payments did not follow Navajo Nation law, regulations, rules and policies. The investigation is aimed at tracing what happened to federal recovery money intended to bring modular housing to the Nation and whether promised deliveries were delayed, altered or never completed.
The housing dispute stretches back to March 2024, when the Navajo Nation announced a partnership involving ZenniHome and IDSA to build 200 manufactured homes. Council and executive statements later said the Nation paid about $24 million to IDSA, which subcontracted ZenniHome. In February 2026, the Navajo Nation Department of Justice said the two companies had received roughly $24 million and had failed to deliver any completed housing units to the Nation.
The issue has also exposed a deeper split inside Navajo leadership over what money was promised and for what purpose. In July 2025, President Buu Nygren said there was no missing $24 million and distinguished between a $24 million grant to ZenniHome for factory expansion in LeChee, Arizona, and the separate housing effort involving IDSA and ZenniHome. He also said one-third of homes on the Navajo Nation lack running water, kitchens or bathrooms, underscoring why the stalled project drew such scrutiny.
The committee’s action follows an earlier authorization in Legislation No. 0174-25, adopted July 18, 2025, and an April 2026 Council update that pushed the hearing timeline to Dec. 31, 2026. A May 2026 Council agenda identified the hearing rules as Legislation No. 0179-26, keeping the matter on the legislative calendar as residents in Gallup, Window Rock and across McKinley County wait to see whether the inquiry will finally explain why the homes never materialized.
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