LeadingAge has learned the likely fate of the 650 contracts that were up for renewal in December but were not renewed prior to the shutdown, which began on December 22. Over a third of the contracts that expired in December are connected to Section 202 Housing for the Elderly. HUD decided it does not have the resources to fund these 224 contracts. HUD officials say that 92% of these 224 Section 202 communities have at least $3000 per unit in their reserve accounts. Reasoning that the average annual subsidy for a Section 202 unit is $7000, HUD believes these communities will be “fine for several months” by relying on their reserves. Section 202 owners with contracts expiring in January are expected to rely on their reserves as well during the shutdown. Read more here.
In addition to contacting Colleen and Linda at LeadingAge national with issues and concerns, members are urged to contact their House and Senate members with these messages:
- Please protect low income older adults by ending the government shutdown and passing a full year HUD spending bill that provides strong funding for affordable housing programs such as the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly and Project-Based Rental Assistance programs.
- We are gravely concerned of the shutdown’s immediate and long-term impacts on HUD’s programs and the low income older adults they serve.
- The shutdown is threatening to destabilize over 1.6 million older adult households that depend on HUD’s rental assistance programs.
