The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “falls well short of achieving its ‘mission priorities’ of affordable housing and energy efficiency” by not including Section 232 and Section 242 loan programs in its efforts to reduce mortgage insurance premiums for some housing projects. So say the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, LeadingAge, the American Seniors Housing Association and other organizations in a Feb. 26 letter to HUD.

The agency announced its plans related to Federal Housing Authority multifamily housing insurance programs on Jan. 28 in the Federal Register. The groups’ letter, written by Roderick D. Owens, executive director of the Committee on Healthcare Financing, requests that HUD extend the MIP reduction to its Section 232 and Section 242 loan programs.

“Section 232 projects provide housing for our elderly and disabled via skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, and board and care facilities,” the authors state. “Therefore, we believe that actions by HUD to encourage affordable housing must include the housing financed by the Section 232 programs.”

Further, they write, because Congress gave HUD a responsibility to support both affordable housing and affordable healthcare for the poor, “the MIP reduction should be modified to include the Section 232 and Section 242 programs, particularly to the extent that the individual projects serve Medicaid patients/residents,” the groups say. “We believe that a patient’s/resident’s use of Medicaid to obtain healthcare services is no different than an individual who benefits from a Section 8 housing assistance payment contract to obtain housing.”

The Committee on Healthcare Financing is an association of investment and mortgage bankers as well as financial advisers who participate in HUD’s Section 232 and 242 mortgage insurance programs.