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Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Act of 2007

Date: Dec. 5, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Housing and Property


SECTION 202 SUPPORTIVE HOUSING FOR THE ELDERLY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 05, 2007)

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Mr. WELCH of Vermont. I thank very much my colleague, Mr. Mahoney, for his excellent work on this legislation and Mrs. Capito for her excellent work on this bipartisan legislation.

It is incredibly important to America's seniors, Vermont's seniors, that they have security in housing as they age. And that is a challenge because we are getting more folks older and incomes are not keeping up. H.R. 2930 addresses the issue in a timely and overdue way.

[Time: 13:00]

It improves HUD's section 202 program, providing low-income elderly households access to affordable places to live. It is the only program that provides housing exclusively for the elderly. Established in 1959, it makes capital grants and project rental assistance available to developers so they can build housing that is affordable to low-income elderly households. Over 320,000 housing units are currently available.

But it is not enough. There are 10 seniors waiting and in need for every housing unit that is available, and approximately 3.6 million of our seniors across the country in every State live in poverty. This bill is going to help make a down payment on what needs to be done. The U.S. population is aging; 12.4 percent are over 65, but in 18 years that is going to be 20 percent. We are going to need 730,000 units of housing. So I thank the sponsors, the leaders, to begin the process of moving forward.

I want to mention just in a very practical way something that Mrs. Capito said. Housing is a partnership. What it does is unleash the activities of volunteers in our communities and housing advocates, and they brought this to our attention.

Grand Way Commons in Vermont, opened by the Cathedral Square Corporation, is going to have a housing project that is going to help 63 families, seniors, have access to housing, and they are combining it with services from United Way, from AARP and from the Vermont Nurses Association.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a strong vote in support of moving ahead for senior housing.

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