CUOMO AWARDS $2.5 MILLION GRANT TO ALLEGHENY COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITY IN PENNSYLVANIA

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo today awarded the Allegheny County Housing Authority in Pennsylvania a grant for $2,549,392 to renovate the Homestead public housing development, which serves the elderly and people with disabilities.

Cuomo said HUD is committed to meeting the housing needs of low-income senior citizens and people with disabilities.

"Just as we want to save Social Security, we want to save housing security for older Americans and people with disabilities in Allegheny County and around the country," Cuomo said. "Our parents and grandparents and people with disabilities shouldn't be forced into substandard housing or nursing homes where they don't belong."

The revitalization covers 230 apartment units and includes the creation of an 86-unit assisted living facility for people needing supportive services to stay in their own apartments. The project is expected to attract $8 million in additional investment on top of the HUD grant.

The HUD grant is part of the Department's HOPE VI public housing revitalization program, which funds the renovation and replacement of severely distressed public housing.

There are about 1.4 million units of public housing around the nation, where about 2.8 million people live. The median annual income of households in public housing is $6,939. A total of 46 percent of households are made up of families with children, another 30 percent house senior citizens, and 11 percent are home to people with disabilities.

Today about 1.5 million senior citizens pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing or live in substandard housing. Cuomo said housing problems for older Americans could grow worse because the number of Americans age 65 or older will double from about 34.3 million today to about 69.4 million in the year 2030 - when one in five people in this country will be elderly.