The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget provides $3.8 billion less in funding for 2012, but does provide some good news for the preservation of senior housing says LeadingAge, a senior advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
Overall, the budget provides HUD with $37.3 billion in budget authority, 9.2% less than last year and the lowest since 2003, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
The budget provides HUD’s elderly housing program (Section 202) with $375 million, much less than the $757 million originally requested by the Administration. The bill does not appear to authorize the use of funds for the construction of new units according to the CBPP.
However, the budget funds the Senior Preservation Rental Assistance Contract (SPRAC) for the first time. The program provides assistance for unassisted residents of the older Section 202 properties that are refinanced.
“Both the ability to refinance the oldest 202 inventory and to provide rental assistance for unassisted seniors who would be displaced by a rehab and refinancing were provisions of the Section 202 reform legislation that was approved in December of 2010,” said LeadingAge. “Funding for SPRAC had not been available until now.”
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Written by John Yedinak
