New Apartment Complex Underway, More Tribal Spending

The Cherokee One Feather reports that construction for a new apartment complex is now underway, this in light of hiring freezes and stoppages of travel.
A couple of things come to mind. One is how many tribal families currently waiting for housing will be placed in these units? Bureaucracy, particularly on the part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, is a huge impediment to dealing with the housing problem in Cherokee, but supposed solutions offered before in the form of condos and townhouse developments have so far resulted in unused units, by at least half. The more tribally-funded housing project units that remain unfilled, the more tribal money will have been wasted.
The other is a comment offered by Principal Chief Michell Hicks, an apparent response to criticism of his administration's spending habits. “As you look at the things happening in Cherokee, it’s not about spending money. It’s about investing in the people of this Tribe.” N.C. Sens. Nesbitt and Snow offered words of praise, pointing to the fact the projects elsewhere in the state have stopped.
Of course neither of these state officials really has a horse in this race, but one has to ask, why have state projects stopped? It's a lack of money. Does the tribe have money in stark contrast to the state? No. That's why there's a hiring freeze, the travel stoppage, and it's why tribal program budgets have had to cut by significant portions.
Investing in the people is all well and good when the money's there. Where is this money coming from? The casino hasn't been the cash cow the tribe has expected it to be, and the reality is the tribe is in the same boat as the rest of the country.
At some point, all the reckless spending being done by tribal government is going to come back and bite them, but it'll be the tribal members who end up paying for it though cuts in services and employee layoffs. Tribal government can take the bull by the horns, or we can lose every piece of china in the shop.