Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $705,500 to the Mental Health Association in Charlotte, NC to create nine units of subsidized housing for poor people with disabilities and to provide rental assistance subsidies on the units for five years.

Cuomo made the announcement via TV satellite from Washington with Congressman Mel Watt in a news conference beamed to Charlotte, where they were joined by Mayor Pat McCrory.

Everyone living in the subsidized housing must be classified as "very low income" - meaning a household with an income of less than 50 percent of the area median. On a national basis, this amounts to an income of less than $8,000 a year.

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

"This assistance can transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable Americans," Cuomo said. "Without this aid, impoverished people with disabilities would be forced to live in substandard conditions, in nursing homes or other institutions, or on the streets and in homeless shelters."

Nationally, Cuomo said HUD is awarding $133 million to non-profit groups under the Section 811 Program for people with disabilities. The assistance will create 1,650 rental units for people with disabilities around the United States, and will subsidize the units for five years. A total of 236 groups applied for the Section 811 assistance and 161 received grants.

HUD provides Section 202 funds to non-profits in two forms:

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

• 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.