The Government Accountability Office published findings from its investigation into the VA’s Native American Direct Loan program.
On April 19, the Government Accountability Office issued a report on the state of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ Native American Direct Loan, or NADL, program.
The NADL program was established in 1992 and allows eligible Native American veterans to take out a VA “loan to buy, build, or improve a home on federal trust land.” The program offers a multitude of competitive benefits but has seen very limited use over the past decade.
Most notably, only 256 NADL loans were issued between 2012 and 2021, which represents less than one percent of the eligible indigenous veteran populations (between 64,000 and 70,000) in the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories. California alone has over 100 different tribal reservations, many of which are eligible for program loans.
The VA performed an internal review of the program in 2021 and established dedicated NADL staff. However, the GAO still found several “weaknesses with the NADL program and opportunities for VA to improve management and operations,” primarily in outreach, administration, planning, and collaboration with other offices that routinely work with tribal authorities.
Additionally, the GAO report notes that “less than one-third of federally recognized Indian tribes [in the contiguous United States] have agreements with VA to allow their members to apply for NADL loans.
Chief among the GAO’s recommendations was improving outreach efforts to inform Native American veterans of their benefits and loan options as well as to garner feedback on the program. The GAO reports that of the 10 recommendations it made, the VA “concurred” with each and has already begun implementing four of the changes.
Readers can view the entire GAO report, including its recommendations, here.
Author: Christian Southards
Coming from a family with a proud military background and wanting to contribute his writing skills to a worthy cause, Christian began writing for the California American Legion in August of 2020. His father is a 25-year Army Veteran and his grandfather served in the Navy during Vietnam.
