Nowhere are affordable housing shortages more acute than where they are needed to serve aging Americans.

The wait for a subsidized low-income rental housing for the elderly averages more than a year, and one in ten property managers offering the units have closed their waiting lists, according to a recent study.

Such shortages force older Americans to both give up independence and enter nursing homes sooner than expected.

"Subsidized housing not only provides an affordable place for low-income seniors to live, but also a platform for services like meals, transportation and home health that allow seniors to receive the services they need, when they need them, in the place they call home," said American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) CEO Larry Minnix.

"We call on the (Bush) Administration and Congress to expand production of senior citizen apartments so more seniors can take advantage of housing with services, which provides more living options for low-income seniors and decreases long-term care costs," he added.

AAHSA recently partnered with the AARP to release to Congress evidence of a greater need for beds, not bullets, ''Developing Appropriate Rental Housing for Low-Income Older Persons," a nationwide survey of property managers of Section 202 federally funded housing for the elderly, as well as managers of properties developed with low income housing tax credits to serve elders.

Section 202 is the federal program that funds construction of housing for older persons. More than 270,000 residential units funded by Section 202 serve today's older Americans with incomes less than half the median for their area. The program produces only about 4,500 new units each year.

Some 84 percent of Section 202 homes offer emergency call systems, 80 percent are outfitted with grab bars and newer units feature other "Universal Access" designs including wheelchair-accessible entry doors, bathrooms and kitchens.

The report, based on an AARP survey of 317 property managers for Section 202 housing for older persons and 227 property managers of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) properties that serve primarily older persons. The survey was conducted by mail in the summer of 2006.

The survey found:

• The wait for a Section 202 unit averages 13.4 months. The waiting list for each unit averages 50 people. waiting lists.

• There is a 10-to-1 ratio of Section 202 applicants to apartments that become available in a given year.

• Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of Section 202 properties have no vacancies.

• LIHTC, which subsidizes the production of affordable rental housing units, offers to older people three in 10 of its units in 23,000 developments, but the ratio of eligible renters to apartments is 5 to 1.

• More than three quarters (76 percent) of LIHTC residential properties have no vacancies. Nearly half the properties (43 percent) have waiting lists of more than a year.

Who suffers?

The average Section 202 resident is 74. He or she lives in a subsidized home for an average 7.8 years -- when one is available.

"Section 202 homes eliminate some of the physical shortcomings that can force people to enter nursing homes prematurely or needlessly," said John Rother, AARP's Policy Director.

Published: January 29, 2007

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.