Tribal court: Housing authority to fix moldy homes

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – The Blackfeet Tribal Court ruled the tribe's housing authority is responsible for repairing or replacing reservation homes contaminated with black mold.

The ruling comes eight years after homeowners filed a lawsuit suit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Blackfeet Housing Authority, the tribal entity that built the houses with federal dollars.

Lead plaintiff Martin Marceau said he was ecstatic to hear the ruling.

“It's been a long, hard fought battle,” he told the Great Falls Tribune. “It seemed like no one cared – both the Blackfeet Tribal government and the federal government.”

The homes purchased on rent-to-own agreements in the late 1970s and early 80s were built on wooden foundations. Residents say the wood was treated with chemicals to forestall rot caused by moisture and exposed their families to toxic compounds and mold.

Housing inspectors first discovered black mold in the homes in 1997, and again five years later.

Marceau bought his house in 1986. He said the walls in the basement have bowed and his wife and children have experienced health problems.

A District Court judge dismissed the case against both the housing authority and HUD, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the lawsuit against the Blackfeet Housing Authority. In May 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The plaintiffs then sued the housing authority in Tribal Court.

The Blackfeet Housing Authority has argued from the beginning that HUD provided “cookie-cutter” specifications for how the houses should be built. Tribal officials did not respond to several calls the Tribune made seeking comment.

The Blackfeet Tribal Court's Nov. 19 ruling said the housing authority is responsible for full, fair and just adjudication of the issues, regardless of whether the federal government helps pay for the cost.

About 150 homes built using arsenic-treated wood foundations are still being used and the tribal court gave the seven original plaintiffs time to add additional parties to the case.

“There was a very small group of us that have been pushing this case,” Marceau said. “After people see this progress, I'm sure more will come forward.”

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Information from: Great Falls Tribune,
http://www.greatfallstribune.com