Housing programs for older adults benefited from a $5.9 billion increase, over the fiscal year 2019 enacted level, in the fiscal year 2020 bill the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, HUD, and Related Agencies approved on May 23.
The overall Section 202 account, under the Subcommittee bill, would receive $803 million.
The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) of 2019 bills are sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (DWA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Todd Young (R-IN), and Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Kenny Marchant (R-TX), Don Beyer (D-VA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN).
LeadingAge submitted comments in July urging HUD to withdraw its May 10 proposed “Verification of Eligible Status” rule - a seven-page document published in the Federal Register - summarized below.
Service coordination (SC) is a desirable program, proven to be a useful, cost-saving role in affordable housing platforms, and is supported conceptually by HUD as something that should be expanded into as many senior housing communities as possible. However, funding the position has become more challenging in recent years.
On May 6, 2019, the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs issued a joint Notice, Notice H-2019-06, with the Office of Public and Indian Housing that provides guidance regarding the federally mandated exclusion of ABLE accounts from the calculation of income and assets under the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE Act). Amounts held in ABLE Act accounts are excluded from asset calculations, and any distributions from ABLE accounts are excluded from income calculations.
On May 10, 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a proposed rule that would end the practice of having “mixed status” families in federally assisted housing. Mixed-status families are households that include both members who are eligible and ineligible for housing assistance based on their immigration status.
The weather was perfect as LeadingAge staff welcomed more than 1,100 to the rally to ask Congress to preserve and expand affordable housing for older adults with very low incomes. The rally brought together affordable housing supporters from the District and neighboring states MD and VA, as well as from PA, NJ, FL, OH, CT, MA and CA. The rally’s co-hosts helped promote the event and were instrumental in its success.
The draft bill would invest $100 million for single family repair loans to help older adults age in community: $70 billion to meet the backlog of capital repair needs to public housing; $1 billion to meet the backlog of capital repair needs for the Rural Housing Service’s Section 515 and Section 514 programs; $5 billion into the national Housing Trust Fund for the development, preservation, and operation of rental homes for household with the lowest incomes; $1 billion for the Native American Housing Block Grant; $10 billion for a set-aside within the Community Development Block Grant progr
In early April, HUD sent out over TRACS a message to all multifamily housing providers stating that “If your property employs or contracts a social service staff person to support the needs of elderly or disabled residents, you MUST report.”
HUD’s Standards for Success is the new performance reporting framework for ALL properties that receive funding for either grant funded or budget-based Service Coordinators. Noncompliance may jeopardize your funding.
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