Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $7.3 million to a non-profit group in Seattle, Washington to create 80 units of subsidized housing for poor senior citizens and to provide rental assistance subsidies on the units for five years.

Cuomo made the announcement of the funding to the group -- the Sisters of Providence - in a telephone news conference from Washington, DC with Congressman Jim McDermott and Seattle Mayor Paul Schell.

Everyone receiving the housing assistance 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 senior citizens 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 $563 million to non-profit groups under the Section 202 Program for senior citizens. The assistance will create 6,563 apartment units for the elderly around the United States, and will subsidize the units for five years. A total of 368 groups applied for the Section 202 assistance and 166 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.