The Zuni Housing Authority

The Zuni Housing Authority (ZHA), located in Zuni, New Mexico, was established in September, 1963 and is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ZHA’s mission is “to provide safe, decent, affordable housing and professional housing services to tribal and community members through fair and equitable means and to promote quality living and self-sufficiency while maintaining sensitivity to our unique cultural and traditional heritage.” On September 18th, 2009, ZHA will host its Fourth Annual Zuni Housing Fair where local vendors have an opportunity to promote their products and where ZHA can share information about their financial literacy and homebuyer programs. Promotion of their free-tax preparation program is a new addition the Zuni Housing Fair.

First Tax Filing Season

The 2009 tax season was the first for the Zuni Tax Help program. Their first year saw a total of 262 completed tax returns. Free tax-prep is offered to all community members as well as surrounding communities and tribes. However, most of their Tax Help clients include ZHA’s tenants and participants of the Low Income Indian Housing programs; such as the Low Rental programs, Homeownership programs and the Lease to Purchase units.

Predatory Lenders

The Zuni Pueblo and surrounding communities are in great need of ZHA’s free tax preparation services as the presence of predatory lenders and unregulated paid-preparers seem to increase each year. . In McKinley County, where the Zuni Pueblo is located, over 35% of EITC filers receive a Refund Anticipation Loan (RAL) and 74% of those filers are Native Americans. ZHA has countless stories of clients with bad credit because of a “Holiday RAL”, families who were charged over $500, and even a client who became a victim of identity theft after receiving services from a paid preparer.

Dedicated Staff

Thus, the Zuni Tax Help site is a much needed resource for the community. Due to ZHA’s partnership with the Pueblo of Zuni- Zuni Education and Career Development Center (ZECDC), the Zuni Tax Help site remained open during regular business hours. Two TANF volunteers from the ZECDC office contributed over 100 hours of volunteer work. While the volunteers worked during the day, Lorelei Sanchez (the Leasehold Mortgage Coordinator and the Zuni Tax Help Coordinator) would come in after her regular work day to audit and submit the day’s tax returns.

ZHA staff receiving a twenty year service award at the annual recognition ceremony.

In fact, the creation and success of the Zuni Tax Help site is due in large part to the dedication of Ms. Sanchez. Describing why she initially became involved in free-tax prep, Lorelei states: “I have been doing my own personal taxes with Turbo Taxes for quite a number of years, so I decided to take on the VITA site here in Zuni. I told myself that if I can complete my own returns why not prepare and offer free taxes to the community.” Working to ensure that the Zuni Tax Help site and ZHA offers clients holistic services, Lorelei has developed strong partnerships with Community Action of New Mexico to strengthen the IDA program and Junior Achievement of New Mexico to strengthen youth education programming. The Zuni Tax Help program is just one example of ZHA’s continued efforts to bring innovative housing services to it’s community members.