HOMINY, Okla. – The newest expansion of Osage Nation senior housing received cheers and applause as government officials and community members gathered here for a ribbon-cutting on 10 duplexes built just north of downtown.
The Hominy Senior Housing Complex will provide living quarters to 20 Osage and Native American elderly households in the area. Hominy is the third community within the Osage Reservation to receive a senior housing complex built by the Nation. Its construction and land purchase are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, as well as supplemental tribal funding.
On Sept. 17, the Nation hosted a ceremonial red ribbon-cutting at the complex with officials gathered under an outdoor tent set up for congratulatory remarks. ON Housing Department Director Talee Redcorn provided an opening Osage prayer.
“This has been a long time coming and a lot of work has gone into preparing this senior housing neighborhood, specifically for our elders,” said Russ Tall Chief of Wahzhazhe Communications who emceed the occasion. “All the design aspects, we have Wallace Design Collective (of Tulsa) behind these designs, you have designs that are specific to the needs of our elders from the accessible entryways, the width of the doors, the height of the toilet … They’ve done a fantastic job on not just this project, but other projects that they worked on with the Nation.”
North of the Hominy middle and high schools, the senior housing complex is located on the east side of State Highway 99 where it’s built on 44.17 acres purchased by the Nation in February 2022. Each housing unit includes two bedrooms, new appliances, a vehicle garage, an above-ground storm shelter, and ADA features include a walk-in shower and a fenced backyard.
The complex comprises two roads named Penn Street and Sunrise Avenue where the duplexes are built alongside. The roads also feature sidewalks and a nearby pond, which has a walkway around its perimeter for residents to enjoy outside activity.
“This is a momentous day because it’s more big-time progress,” said Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear. “We expect a lot of activity to be happening beyond this … Everyone needs to keep building on the best we can with our funding and keep adding onto this and maybe other projects because it’s ours and this is great, but we don’t want to stop and say, ‘we did it!’ We got a lot more work ahead.”
Brandon Wallace, ON Housing Department Construction Manager, said: “Today is a special day for our community as we gather to celebrate the completion of our senior housing complex. This project is more than just buildings – it’s a testament to our respect, love and gratitude for our elders. These elders have guided us, taught us our heritage and shaped our Osage Nation to what it is today. Now it’s our turn to give back by providing them with the quality housing they deserve.”
“This is the third addition to senior housing following our efforts in Pawhuska and Fairfax and now we’re here in Hominy,” Wallace said. “Our culture and our people are at the heart of this endeavor and we’re so proud to be able to care for those who came before us.”
In his remarks, Wallace also thanked other officials and entities who worked on the senior housing expansion, including Standing Bear, ON Congress, Secretary of Development Casey Johnson, Builders Unlimited Inc., and the ON Senior Housing maintenance crew for their work efforts.
Congresswoman Alice Goodfox said, “This has been a long time coming” and noted the appropriation bills that Congress passed through the years to fund the Hominy senior housing project. Those bills included ONCA 21-51 ($7.6 million in ARPA funds) and ONCA 22-101 ($700,000 in ARPA funds), which she sponsored.
Congressional Second Speaker Otto Hamilton sponsored ONCA 23-24, which appropriated an additional $3 million in tribal funding for the Hominy project. Goodfox said, “Because as you know through COVID, prices continued to rise, that was our reality. We appropriated $3 million and $1 million came out of our retained revenue fund and $2 million came out of the general treasury. That was a commitment from the Executive Branch and the Congress members to say, ‘We’re going to see this through, we’re going to make this happen, it’s deserved.’”
“I’m very proud that we have senior housing in all three districts, but I don’t feel like it’s going to stop there, I feel like every single city within our boundary has a shortage of housing, that’s a fact, we know that, we knew the need was there … We were looking, we were talking, we were hearing and what we had was multi-generational families were living in a home,” Goodfox said.
“We had grandparents who owned the home who were living with their adult children and their grandchildren and with this expansion … we now have elders that can go to their own home. They can leave their home to their children and grandchildren,” Goodfox said. “I felt like it was very appropriate to use ARPA funds for this because the other thing that I heard was that our tribal members were going to work (in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic), they were working at the casino, they were working at Walmart, they were working everywhere they were employed and they were having to come home and worry about giving their elders in their home COVID. And what do we have today? An increase in more COVID cases – Now we know that our elders can be here in their home and they can be safe.”
Hamilton said he felt “very fortunate to sign my name to the bill, but all 12 members of Congress voted for it unanimously, there was no debate, something we all wanted because we see the need. I’m very happy to say we’re taking care of our elders now and we’re also taking care of our families now. Next, we want to look at housing for them … When I see the Osage build things, it makes me proud to be Osage. Every time I’m going to drive by, I’m going to think about the building that went on, the families that are going to be taken care of now.”
For more information on the Nation’s Housing Department, Senior Housing and other services, visit www.osagenation-nsn.gov/services/housing
