Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 15
CHAPTER 147
Relative to Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program.
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Filed with
Secretary of State
September 09, 2019.
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LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 15, Bloom.
Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program.
This measure would state the Legislature’s support for federal funding of at least $600 million per year to support the construction and operation of affordable housing through the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program and would call on the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to support significantly increased funding for that program.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, Evidence-based research has shown that older adults with safe, decent, accessible, and affordable homes connected to services are healthier, experience decreased hospitalizations and emergency room use, have shorter hospitalizations than peers without affordable housing-based supports, and reduce federal costs; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, 9.7 million households 65 years of age or older spent more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing; and
WHEREAS, In 2016, 4.9 million households 65 years of age or older spent more than 50 percent of their incomes for housing; and
WHEREAS, The poorest older adult households spending more than one-half of their incomes for housing spend 53 percent less on food and 70 percent less on health care than their peers who are not burdened by housing costs; and
WHEREAS, The share of individuals experiencing homelessness who are 60 years of age or older almost doubled from 2007 to 2017, from 4.1 percent to 8 percent; and
WHEREAS, Only one of every three older adult households eligible for federal rental assistance receive it because federal housing assistance programs are too small to meet the large, existing need; and
WHEREAS, The number of older households with low-incomes is growing, with the number of low-income households 65 to 79 years of age increasing 21 percent between 2000 and 2016; and
WHEREAS, The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program within the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development has successfully built more than 400,000 homes since its inception in 1959; and
WHEREAS, The Section 202 Program serves more than 30,000 older adults in California, while more than 687,900 California households 65 years of age or older pay more than one-half of their incomes for housing, often forcing them to choose between paying for housing, food, and medicine; and
WHEREAS, Federal funding for the Section 202 Program was reduced to zero for fiscal years 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, while the need for this housing expanded; and
WHEREAS, The Section 202 Program relies exclusively on mission-driven nonprofit organizations to provide quality, affordable homes with service supports to older adults with very low incomes; and
WHEREAS, The construction of new homes by the Section 202 Program was restarted in the 2017–18 fiscal year as Congress recognized the large and increasing need for affordable housing for older adults; and
WHEREAS, The Section 202 Program is a critical program to meet the affordable housing plus services needs of older adults with very low incomes, but this program is too small to meet those needs; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature supports federal funding of at least $600 million per year to support the construction and operation of affordable housing through the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program and calls on our state Congressional Representatives to voice their support for such a funding level; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature calls on the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to support significantly increased funding for the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.