Navajo Nation lawmakers scrutinize housing contracts, ARPA spending in hearing

Navajo Nation lawmakers turned a housing hearing in Window Rock into a hard look at whether public money for modular homes was handled properly, and whether families waiting for new housing are paying the price for delays and contracting disputes. The scrutiny centered on Tamarah Begay, founder and principal architect of Indigenous Design Studio + Architecture, and on a $50 million work order meant to deliver 160 homes.

For families in Gallup and chapter communities across McKinley County, the stakes were plain: this was supposed to be a major Native housing buildout, backed by federal recovery dollars, not another stalled promise. Lawmakers questioned whether the project complied with American Rescue Plan Act rules, whether the contracts were managed correctly, and whether the housing delivery plan was already more expensive than it should have been.

Amber Kanazbah Crotty pressed Begay on the procurement timeline and on how IDSA entered Work Order Four after not participating in the first three work orders. Begay said IDSA served as the prime contractor for the fourth work order, which covered design, manufacture, delivery and installation of the modular homes. She said the subcontract with ZenniHome was signed in January 2025 and that $22 million was transferred for manufacturing and delivery.

Begay also described the project as moving through biweekly meetings, regular progress updates and monthly reports to the Navajo Nation Division of Community Development. But she testified that concerns surfaced after a site visit to ZenniHome’s manufacturing facility in April 2025, when DCD reported possible unallowable contract costs. The committee dug into those concerns as members examined procurement procedures, contract management, financial oversight and communications between IDSA and Navajo Nation officials.

Carl R. Slater, vice chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, said the panel’s job was to provide a full, fair and transparent accounting of what happened while strengthening safeguards for public funds. The committee later approved Resolution No. BFAP-07-26 on April 17, 2026, extending the investigatory deadline to December 31, 2026, and affirming its power to request documents, compel testimony and work with oversight offices.

The wider investigation had already brought in Controller Sean McCabe, who testified on June 12 that the Office of the President and Vice President asked him to help develop a noncompetitive, sole-source contract for a $24 million grant to ZenniHome. McCabe said the controller’s office stopped that proposal over cash-flow and compliance concerns, then later saw another effort aimed at a sole-source contract for IDSA. He warned that the Navajo Nation could face significant risk if any of the spending is later ruled unallowable.

The hearing laid bare a central question for Navajo housing policy in McKinley County and beyond: whether a project intended to bring 160 Native-designed homes to the Nation can still deliver homes before the public loses confidence in the money, the contracts and the process.