CUOMO ANNOUNCES $3.6 MILLION IN HUD AID FOR HOUSING ELDERLY IN NEW MEXICO

In New Mexico, the HUD assistance will create: 52 apartment units for the elderly. It will also provide rental subsidies to residents of the housing for five years.

Nationwide, Cuomo said HUD is awarding $595.6 million to non-profits in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico this week under the Section 202 Program for senior citizens and the Section 811 program for people with disabilities. The 202 program is awarding $501.3 million of the money and the 811 program is awarding $94.3 million.

On a national level, the HUD assistance will create: 6,006 apartment units for the elderly and 1,169 rental units for people with disabilities. It will provide rental subsidies for the units for five years.

"The men and women who spent decades working hard to build 20th Century America should not be left without a place in live in 21st Century America," Cuomo said. "People challenged by disabilities should not face the added challenge of keeping a roof over their heads."

"America will not turn its back on older Americans and people with disabilities struggling to get by on very low incomes," Cuomo said. "Without HUD assistance, many of these Americans simply could not make it. They would be forced to live in slums, or doubled and tripled up with relatives in overcrowded housing, or sent to nursing homes or other institutions at greater taxpayer expense, or even forced into homelessness in the most extreme cases."

The HUD aid is designed to provide housing for people 62 and older and adults with disabilities who have incomes below 50 percent of the area median. Nationally, 50 percent of median income amounts to less than $8,000 a year.

Residents pay 30 percent of their income in rent, and HUD subsidies pay the remaining funds needed to operate the housing.

HUD provides funds to the non-profits in two forms:

• Capital advances. This is money that covers the cost of developing the housing. It does not need to repaid as long as the housing is available for occupancy by very low-income elderly or people with disabilities for at least 40 years.

• Project rental assistance. This goes to each non-profit to cover the difference between the resident's contribution toward rent and the cost of operating the project.

SECTION 202 -- ELDERLY HOUSING

Project location: Santa Fe, NM
Capital advance: $1,873,600
Five-year rental subsidy: $370,500
Non-profit sponsor: Casas De Buena Ventura, Inc. of Santa Fe
Number units and project description: 31 one-bedroom apartments for the elderly will be built with a two-bedroom apartment for a resident manager.

Project location: Santa Rosa, NM
Capital advance: $1,163,500
Five-year rental subsidy: $227,000
Non-profit sponsor: Eastern Plains Housing Dev. Corp.
Number units and project description: 19 one bedroom apartments for the elderly will be built with an apartment for a resident manager.