Washington, D.C.– Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today congratulated several recipients of federal grants to provide housing assistance to the Southern Arizona community. The recipients of new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants include Family Housing Resources, which received $5.1 million under HUD’s Section 202 program; Tucson’s La Frontera Center, which received nearly $1.66 million under the Section 811 program for persons with disabilities; Maricopa County, which received a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of $2.4 million and an Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) of $98,000; and the City of Avondale, which received a CDBG of just over $545,000.
CDBGs help local authorities revitalize neighborhoods, promote economic development and provide improved community facilities and services. ESGs can be used to provide homeless people with basic shelter and essential supportive services, fund operational costs at shelter facilities, and provide short-term homeless prevention assistance to people at imminent risk of losing their homes due to eviction, foreclosure or utility shutoffs. HUD’s Section 811 funds finance the development of rental housing with supportive services for people with disabilities. The funds can finance the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of housing and are not repaid as long as the housing remains available for very low-income persons with disabilities for at least 40 years.
Family Housing Resources, a nonprofit group with offices in Tucson and Phoenix that helps moderate income Arizonans find affordable housing, will use its Section 202 grant to construct and manage a 43-unit community of rental housing for very low-income elderly persons in Tucson. HUD’s Section 202 program provides funding to construct and manage rental units for very low-income persons 62 years of age or older who are able to live independently. Rents will be subsidized, so that residents will not pay more than 30 percent of their income. The project will be constructed on a 3.95 acre parcel located at 2001 West Grant Road. Construction should begin early in 2011, according to information from the group.
“These grants and projects are another step in our ongoing effort to mitigate the pain of the foreclosure crisis, provide assistance to those in need, and get the economy moving again,” Grijalva said of the awards. “This is money that communities can put to good use. It will benefit residents, including elderly and disabled Americans, facing a difficult economy and housing market, and I thank and congratulate each of these recipients for pursuing and using these funds to help the people of the Seventh District.”
For more information about the Family Housing Resources project, contact John Glaze at (520) 318-0993. For more information about the La Frontera project, call Daniella Zepeda at (520) 370-3988.