The Housing Improvement Program (HIP) is designed to serve as a safety net program, targeting those neediest individual Indians residing within approved service areas who cannot meet income requirements set forth by tribes administering Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing programs. This program improves the quality of life of Indians qualified to participate in the program by eliminating substandard housing and homelessness on or near federally recognized reservation communities. The HIP provides funding for needed housing repairs and renovations of existing homes, construction of a modest replacement home, or construction of a modest home for families who do not own a home but have ownership or lease of sufficient land suitable for housing. The HIP meets the need of those individual Indians residing within a tribe's approved service area. Program funding is available to federally recognized tribes and tribal organizations for use in providing program services to Indian applicants who meet the eligibility criteria in 25 CFR Part 256.