I congratulate the Oglala Sioux Housing Authority and Mrs. McGuire, the Public Housing Commissioner, and Housing Administrator Robert Weaver, in working out this project to enable Federal assistance to be used for the decent housing of our Indian families as it has been used for so many others.
This is the first use of public housing aid to meet the needs of our Indians and it is long overdue. It expresses our determination to extend the benefits of Federal Housing aids to all Americans. And certainly these Indian families are the first who can claim their rights as Americans.
The extension of the public housing program to our Indian reservations is a practical fulfillment of the promise I made last October to the Association of American Indian Affairs. I said then that, if elected. I intended to "make the benefits of the Federal housing programs available to Indians." At that time I said: "Housing conditions on Indian reservations are a national shame."
The Public Housing Administration, in approving this project, has opened the door to better housing for many of our low-income Indian families at prices and interest rates they can afford, and I hope that similar developments will in due time be planned by other Indian reservations.
