[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E807]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E807]]



                ELDERLY HOUSING QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN J. LaFALCE

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 1999

  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, today, I plan to introduce the ``Elderly 
Housing Quality Improvement Act.'' I am pleased to be joined in this 
effort by ranking Banking Committee Democrats Vento, Kanjorski, and 
Frank, as well as many other co-sponsors.
  According to HUD's ``Worse Case Housing Needs'' study, 1.5 million 
elderly households pay over 50% of their income for rent or live in 
severely substandard housing. As our nation ages, and as our affordable 
housing stock continues to shrink, this problem is likely to get worse.
  The Elderly Housing Quality Improvement Act addresses this growing 
crisis through targeted funding increases and legislative changes 
designed to update and expand our stock of elderly housing, and to 
improve the quality of life of low-income seniors.
  As affordable elderly housing units built in the 1970's and 1980's 
have aged, project sponsors, many of them non-profits, all too often 
lack the resources for adequate repair and maintenance. The first goal 
of the Elderly Housing Quality Improvement Act is to give these 
sponsors additional tools and resources to properly maintain elderly 
housing.
  Most dramatically, the bill creates a new grant program for capital 
repairs for federally assisted elderly housing units, to be funded at 
$100 million a year. Funds would be awarded on a competitive basis, 
based on the need for the proposed repairs, the financial need of the 
applicant, and the impact on the tenants for failure to make such 
repairs.
  The bill also amends existing programs to improve the quality of 
elderly housing units. It facilitates the refinancing of high interest 
rate Section 202 elderly housing projects, by guaranteeing that at 
least half of refinancing savings, plus all excess reserve funds, may 
be retained for the benefit of the tenants or for the benefit of the 
project.
  The bill contains an innovative approach to accelerate the 
availability of 1997 Mark-to-Market Section 531 recapture grant funds, 
to enable affordable housing sponsors to make large capital 
expenditures. The bill also makes all federally assisted housing 
projects eligible for such grants. And, the bill increases annual 
income for non federally insured Section 236 affordable housing 
projects, by letting them keep ``excess income.''
  The second major goal of the bill is to make assisted living 
facilities more available and affordable to low income elderly. 
Assisted living facilities provide meals, health care, and other 
services to frail senior citizens who need assistance with activities 
of daily living. Unfortunately, poorer seniors who can't afford 
assisted living facilities are instead forced to move into nursing 
homes--with a lower quality of life at a higher cost.
  In order to overcome this affordability problem, the bill makes 
conversion of federally assisted elderly housing to assisted living 
facilities an eligible activity under the newly created capital grant 
program. It also authorizes the use of Section 8 vouchers to pay the 
rental component of any assisted living facility. This would make the 
200,000 elderly now receiving vouchers eligible to use them in assisted 
living facilities.
  The legislation also authorizes 15,000 incremental vouchers, on a 
demonstration basis, for low income seniors for use in assisted living 
facilities. These vouchers are to be made available to ten state 
housing finance agencies or local public housing agencies.
  Funds may be used so that an elderly tenant in project-based Section 
8 project-based housing who needs assistance with activities of daily 
living may receive a new voucher to move to an assisted living 
facility. The vouchers may also be used to incentivize construction of 
assisted living facilities which agree to serve low-income seniors.
  This demonstration would give us the opportunity to analyze whether 
authorizing additional Section 8 vouchers for this purpose might 
actually reduce government spending, by reducing the level of Medicaid 
expenditures that would otherwise be expended by the state and federal 
government in a nursing home setting.
  Third, the bill promotes the use of service coordinators, which help 
elderly and disabled tenants gain access to local community services, 
thereby promoting independence. This bill doubles funding for grants 
for service coordinators in federally assisted housing, and lets 
service coordinators serve other low-income seniors in a local 
community. It also provides funds for new public housing service 
coordinator grants, and mandates renewal of all expiring grants, 
including those grants not renewed in the FY 1998 lottery.
  Finally, the bill seeks to expand our stock of affordable housing for 
the elderly, by increasing Section 202 new construction of elderly 
housing by $50 million. It also encourages appropriators to consider 
demonstration projects which encourage the leveraging of funds from 
other sources, such as from tax credit deals, and to encourage the 
development of additional housing which is affordable for moderate 
income elderly.
  Earlier this year, the Chairmen of the Housing Subcommittee and 
Banking Committee introduced H.R. 202, which deals with the worthy goal 
of ``conversion'' of Section 202 elderly housing projects. The Elderly 
Housing Quality Improvement Act complements H.R. 202, and simply gives 
elderly housing sponsors additional tools to carry out their mission. 
It is my hope that Democrats and Republicans can work together in a bi-
partisan fashion to adopt the best of all these proposals and enact 
them into law.

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