Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded $4.1 million to non-profit groups in Stroud Township and Wilkes-Barre, PA, to create 48 units of subsidized housing for poor senior citizens.

The Alliance for Building Communities in Stroud Township will receive $1.7 million to construct 20 apartment units for senior citizens and the Volunteers of America National Services and the Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania will receive $2.4 million to rehabilitate 28 units in Wilkes-Barre. The funding will also provide rental assistance subsidies on all of the units for five years.

Cuomo made the announcement via TV satellite from Washington with Congressman Paul Kanjorski and Wilkes-Barre Mayor Thomas McGroarty.

"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."

Congressman Kanjorski said: "Under the Clinton Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been widely and justly applauded for making great improvements in the delivery of services. I am very pleased that these funds will be coming to Wilkes-Barre and Stroud Township to help create subsidized housing for senior citizens. It is appropriate and important for us to help in the creation of housing for our elderly neighbors." Congressman Kanjorski is a senior member of the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over HUD.

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.

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.