She just got electricity, now a Navajo elder is about to live in her first home

TONALEA, Ariz. — For most of her 80 years, Victoria Benally has lived in a shack on the Navajo Nation.

One room with dirt floors covered by scraps of carpet, a door that doesn’t fully shut, and thin material stuffed into window gaps to keep out the wind. She’s cooked on the same propane stove for four decades and, until three years ago, she lived without any electricity.

Now, for the first time in her life, a real home is on the way.

Benally is among 84 disadvantaged Navajo elders chosen to receive modular homes through a $14 million American Rescue Plan Act initiative managed by the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission. The project, which launched this spring, has already delivered 75 homes, with the rest expected to arrive within weeks.

“Victoria has waited decades for this safe housing, and