LeadingAge and the country’s largest not-for-profit provider of affordable housing for older adults said Monday that they are looking forward to contributing as the Department of Housing and Urban Development plans a bus tour “focused on the need for increased affordable housing.”
“Any time that federal officials can spend time in HUD-assisted senior communities is time very well spent,” Linda Couch, vice president of housing operations at LeadingAge, told McKnight’s Senior Living.
The nationwide “Driving Affordable Housing Across America” tour, announced Monday, will begin Wednesday in Louisville, KY, and will last through June. No other stops had been announced as of Monday, but HUD said the tour will include “various local communities.”
“Families, businesses and all levels of government have concerns about the rising cost of housing, and this is an opportunity to bring those parties to the table for a discussion about how we can work together to fix the problem,” HUD Sec. Ben Carson said in a statement announcing the tour.
LeadingAge, Couch said, has recommended to HUD that Carson visit “developments that allow older adults to age in community with the affordability, rich access to services, and quality homes every senior deserves — but only one in three eligible have access to because HUD’s programs are too small to meet the significant, and growing, need.”
The bus tour, according to HUD, aims to highlight the work of the White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing, of which Carson is chairman. The council was established in June by President Trump via Executive Order 13878, which stated in part: “Increasing the supply of housing by removing overly burdensome regulatory barriers will reduce housing costs, boost economic growth and provide more Americans with opportunities for economic mobility.”
Efforts to reduce regulatory barriers to affordable housing, Couch said, are “one piece of the solution.”
National Church Residences, the country’s largest not-for-profit provider of affordable housing for seniors, according to the 2019 LeadingAge Ziegler 200 list of largest providers, said it is “encouraged by the focused attention and energy” that HUD and the council are bringing to the need for more affordable housing in the United States.
“This listening tour will be a great opportunity for Secretary Carson and senior HUD officials to see and hear firsthand the issues facing the industry and its residents,” the organization said in a statement to McKnight’s Senior Living. “We have had the pleasure of hosting Secretary Carson at our properties in the past, and will be working with HUD as they determine the full itinerary for the tour to identify opportunities to host visits and otherwise lend National Church Residences’ perspective to this complex issue.”
