I sure hope this doesn't get cut, although the $Numbers seem a bit confused, it's a pittance when you consider that 13% of our population is elderly. What % are living in poverty. The cost of housing spiraled out of control in the last decade. Can we, as a country, keep the elderly out of homeless shelters? I sure hope so.
Homelessness Among Elderly Persons
The current maximum monthly SSI benefits ($715.00 for an individual) remains well below the poverty line. Furthermore, the waiting list for affordable senior housing is often three to five years.
The number of elderly adults who have become homeless has increased around the county. An example of this increase has occurred in Massachusetts, where from 1999 to 2002, the number of people over 55 using shelters increased by 60% (HEARTH, 2007).
Both the poverty rate and the number in poverty remained statistically unchanged for people 65 and older, at 9.7 percent and 3.7 million in 2008 [1].
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $749 MILLION TO FUND HOUSING FOR VERY LOW-INCOME SENIORS AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
The grant funding awarded under HUD’s Sections 202 and 811 Supportive Housing programs will kick start construction or major rehabilitation on more than 189 housing developments in 42 different states and Puerto Rico. When complete, more than 4,800 elderly households and persons with disabilities will be affordably housed with access to needed services.
I think that works out to about $156,000 per unit.
QUESTION: In my area, a one bedroom apartment is renting for approximately $1,000 a month. Will the owners (mostly large corporation chains) receive $1,000 a month, mostly paid by HUD? Or will HUD set some guidelines that look at profit margins for housing units?
Also, median income is more like $26,500 than $40,500. The $13,500 income must be averaged.
Residents must be “very low income” with household incomes less than 50 percent of their median for that area. However, most households that receive Section 811 or Section 202 assistance earn less than 30 percent of the median for their area. Generally, this means that a one-person household will have an annual income of about $13,500.
2009 chart, most recent available
Not all states will receive funding. And it appears that non-profit organizations will oversee the buildings:
HUD provides these funds to non-profit organizations in two forms:
Capital Advances. This is funding that covers the cost of developing, acquiring, or rehabilitating the development. Repayment is not required as long as the housing remains available for occupancy by very low-income elderly persons for at least 40 years for (under Section 202) or very low-income persons with disabilities (under Section 811).
Project Rental Assistance Contracts. This is funding that goes to each development to cover the difference between the residents’ contributions toward rent and the cost of operating the project.
I sure hope more is set aside in the future.
U.S. Elderly to Double in 25 Years
We can thank Chuck Schumer
2010 - Schumer Restores Elderly Housing Money
In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated $825 million for Section 202 programmatic funding, however, the Administration’s budget for 2011 slashed funding to $273.7 million. Today’s action by the Appropriations Subcommittee restores full funding of the program to $825 million.
I can think of no more condemning statement for a society than aged homeless people.
What are some of the consequences of being a homeless elderly person?
difficulty getting around
more likely to sleep on the street (distrust shelters)
more prone to victimization and more likely to be ignored by law enforcement
worsening of physical health
death
I don't hear this topic being discussed too much.
Will the program be slashed again this year?
No surprise, the neoliberal economists are against rent control.
Writing in 1946, economists Milton Friedman and George J. Stigler said: "Rent ceilings, therefore, cause haphazard and arbitrary allocation of space, inefficient use of space, retardation of new construction and indefinite continuance of rent ceilings, or subsidization of new construction and a future depression in residential building."[38][unreliable source?] Although those paying lower than market rent are "protected," most economists argue that newer residents actually pay higher rent due to reduced supply.
In a 1992 stratified, random survey of 464 economists and economics graduate students in the US, 76.3% generally agreed that "[a] ceiling on rents reduces* the quantity and quality of housing available."[39]
*Well DUH! People don't move. Most of the units are housing the elderly. They only move to the grave or nursing homes.