Originally published: 2026-04-01T18:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.
For the last 48 years, descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud and other Native Americans of the Lakota Nation have gathered in Rapid City, S.D., to attend the Lakota Nation Invitational (LNI). Held in December, LNI offers thousands of Lakota a chance to participate in sporting competitions, traditional dances and ceremonies, business plan competitions, informational presentations and a plethora of other activities.
Casandra Kelting and Craig Filbeck, coordinators with the Native American Direct Loan (NADL) program at VA, staffed a booth at the event and provided a comprehensive presentation on how the NADL program helps Native American Veterans and service members buy, build and renovate homes. They also answered questions, distributed information and helped event attendees start the NADL application process.
“We are honored that we can connect with Native American Veterans at events like this, where we share vital information on housing opportunities, collaborate with tribes and also join in tribal celebrations,” said Filbeck. “We were deeply moved watching a traditional blanket ceremony, when the Lakota tribes honored a high-ranking member of the military who helped Native American Veterans over his years of service, and the Grand Entrance, when Native American Veterans led members of the tribes into the event.”
Kelting and Filbeck also met with tribal leaders of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where they inspected new homes being built for Native American Veterans with assistance from the NADL program. Located on the windswept plains of South Dakota, the homes are part of a new development that provides housing opportunities for Native Americans who want to live on their tribal lands.
The NADL coordinators closed out their trip with a visit to the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, where they met with senior officials and shared information about the NADL program.
Congress established the NADL program in 1992 to help address the challenges Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and Pacific Islanders have historically faced in accessing mortgages to buy homes on federal trust lands. Since the program’s inception, VA has signed 118 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with tribal governments, opening up NADLs for usage with those tribes. NADL benefits include low interest rates, no down payments and no private mortgage insurance.
In addition to the NADL program, Native American Veterans can also apply for a VA-guaranteed home loan for use on fee-simple properties (complete ownership of land outside federal trust lands).
VA is committed to working with tribal communities throughout the country to expand the NADL program.
Learn more about the NADL program or attend an informational session.
VA also created a video guide to the MOU process that can be accessed online at the Loan Guaranty Training Website under ‘Available Training – Native American Direct Loans.’
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.
