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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs announced Wednesday grants totaling $143 million to nonprofit organizations across the country to support affordable senior housing.

The grants will go toward development of multifamily construction projects, ongoing project rental assistance for very low-income seniors under the department’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program.

Section 202 program eligibility requires residents to be earning less than 50% of an area’s median income. Most households in the Section 202 program earn less than 30% of the median for their area, however, according to HUD.

“These awards support the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to increase housing stability among the nation’s most vulnerable populations, including the very low-income seniors these grants will ultimately help,” Office of Housing Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lopa Kolluri said in a press release.

The grant monies will be distributed among 30 nonprofit organizations among 21 states and Washington, D.C., ranging from $1 million to Enterprise Community Development in Baltimore to $9.1 million to GEM Housing Solutions in Surprise, AZ. 

HUD provides Section 202 funding as both capital advances and project rental assistance contracts. Repayment of capital advances isn’t required as long as the housing remains available for occupancy by very low-income elderly persons for at least 40 years. Project rental assistance contracts subsidize the difference between what a resident can pay toward rent and the cost of operating the project.