HUD is lending a shovel and more than $8.9 million dollars to build more affordable rental units for the city's very low-income senior citizens in the Greenway Presbyterian Community of Southwest Philadelphia. Milton R. Pratt, Jr., the Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Philadelphia, and local officials break ground for new apartments at 2060 South 58th Street. Officials estimate a 13-month completion schedule and that tenants can plan to move in by July 2005.

They'll be moving into a four-story building with 67 one-bedroom units. The tenants will be further served by having a full time resident manager on site because the apartment building will provide an additional unit for the manager. The project site is part of a larger senior-oriented campus which serves as an anchor to the surrounding neighborhood, and contributes to the community's stability and revitalization.

HUD provided more than $7.6 million to fund the mortgage for the building. The City of Philadelphia's Office of Housing & Community Development awarded more than $1 million in secondary financing. Additional HUD funds in the amount of $1.3 million will help subsidize the rent for the units making them more affordable.

On the same campus, there are two other HUD funded and subsidized housing facilities for the elderly. Ann Thomas Presbyterian Apartments has 75 apartments and the Mary Field Presbyterian Apartments has 100 units. The addition of this new apartment building will bring the total number of units on this campus to 242 apartments. Also, a HUD-financed conversion of certain designated floors to assisted living in the Ann Thomas Apartments is well underway.

This is an example of a federal partnership with a Faith Based Organization with a long history in providing various levels of senior housing and services, and through which the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program has maintained a very successful history of consumer satisfaction. It's partnerships like these that are making a difference in the daily lives of people by expanding the supply of safe affordable and decent housing.