WASHINGTON, DC – Today Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) joined with House Colleagues to pass H.R. 202, Preserving Affordable Housing for Senior Citizens & Families into the 21st Century.  The bill protects seniors living in Federally-assisted housing from being forced out of their homes when landlords chose to ‘opt-out’ of Federal housing contracts.  Section 202 requires building owners to maintain their units as affordable low-income housing, usually with the requirement that tenants pay no more than 30 percent of their income for rent.

"Since the enactment of the program in 1959, Section 202 has produced more than 337,000 housing units, representing a major portion of the nation’s supply of safe, quality and affordable elderly housing," said Roybal-Allard.  "Congress should protect America’s seniors, not sit idly by while they are thrown out into the street."

Over the past few years, hundreds of thousands of Federally-assisted housing units for low-income families have been lost when subsidy contracts expired and project owners chose not to renew them.  Today’s vote allows the Federal government to continue to provide affordable housing to current and future low-income seniors.

"With the graying of America, we need to preserve and expand the Section 202 program," said Roybal-Allard.  "It is one of the Federal government’s most successful housing programs serving low-income elderly."

A large percentage of tenants in Federally-assisted housing are senior citizens, and are more likely than other adults to be poor.  For seniors in particular, the loss of Federally-assisted housing results in being forced from their homes, or paying a higher rent from a fixed, limited income.  Currently, more than 33 million people in the United States are 65 and older, and it is estimated that by 2020 that number will grow to almost 53 million; it is likely that many of them will need housing assistance.

Section 202 is widely supported by House members of both parties and senior advocacy groups including the National Church Residences (NCR) and the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP).

Congresswoman Roybal-Allard represents the 33rd Congressional District in California, which includes the cities of Los Angeles, Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Huntington Park, Maywood, South Gate and Vernon.  She is the first Latina in U.S. history to occupy a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, which has direct oversight of one third of all federal spending, and annually approves all funding levels for the federal budget.