Summary:
HUD provides capital advances to finance the construction, rehabilitation or acquisition with or without rehabilitation of structures that will serve as supportive housing for very low-income elderly persons, including the frail elderly, and provides rent subsidies for the projects to help make them affordable.

Purpose:
The Section 202 program helps expand the supply of affordable housing with supportive services for the elderly. It provides very low-income elderly with options that allow them to live independently but in an environment that provides support activities such as cleaning, cooking, transportation, etc. The program is similar to Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities (Section 811).

Type of Assistance:
HUD provides interest-free capital advances to private, nonprofit sponsors to finance the development of supportive housing for the elderly. The capital advance does not have to be repaid as long as the project serves very low-income elderly persons for 40 years.

Project rental assistance funds are provided to cover the difference between the HUD-approved operating cost for the project and the tenants' contribution towards rent. Project rental assistance contracts are approved initially for 3 years and are renewable based on the availability of funds.

Eligible Applicants:
Private nonprofit organizations and nonprofit consumer cooperatives that meet the threshold requirements contained in the General Section and the program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) are the only eligible applicants under this Section 202 program. Neither a public body or tribe nor an instrumentality or agency of a public body or tribe is eligible to participate in the program. Nonprofit entities associated with public bodies or tribes must establish their eligibility by providing an attorney’s opinion stating that under state or tribal law the associated entity is not an instrumentality or agency of the public body or tribe and confirming that such entity:

• Meets the definition of “private nonprofit organization” under part 891;
• Has Articles of Incorporation which provide no more than minority control by the public body or tribe; and
• Is not receiving a majority of its operational funding from the public body or tribe.

Eligible Customers:
Occupancy in Section 202 housing is open to any very low-income household comprised of at least one person who is at least 62 years old at the time of initial occupancy.

Application:
Applicants must submit an application in response to a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) posted on Grants.gov.

Technical Guidance:
The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program is authorized by section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q), as amended. Program regulations are found 24 CFR Part 891. More information about the Section 202 program, can be found in HUD Handbooks 4571.3, Supportive Housing for the Elderly and 4571.5, Supportive Housing for the Elderly--Conditional Commitment; HUD Notices H96-102 REV 00-23, H2009-10 and H2011-18. Access to program guidance is available via Internet at HUDclips.