Florida Senate - 2014                                     SM 576
       
       
        
       By Senator Abruzzo
       
       
       
       
       
       25-00836-14                                            2014576__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to restore funding for the Supportive
    4         Housing for the Elderly Program.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, the senior population nationwide increased from
    7  3.1 million to 33.2 million during the 20th century and, by
    8  2030, the number of seniors is projected to increase to 80
    9  million, and
   10         WHEREAS, half of people age 65 or older reside in nine
   11  states, led by Florida, California, and New York, and
   12         WHEREAS, interest rates for personal savings accounts have
   13  dropped to less than one-half of 1 percent, pension and health
   14  care payments for retirees are decreasing, and the value of
   15  investments in 401(k) retirement savings accounts and stocks
   16  have dramatically decreased, and
   17         WHEREAS, federal funding for low-cost housing was
   18  eliminated in 2012 after being cut dramatically from $650
   19  million in 2005 to $78 million in 2011, and
   20         WHEREAS, with thousands of low-income seniors on waiting
   21  lists, some for as many as 3 years, there is a desperate need
   22  for low-cost housing for seniors, NOW, THEREFORE,
   23  
   24  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   25  
   26         That the Congress of the United States is urged to assist
   27  our nation’s low-income seniors by restoring and adequately
   28  funding the Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program.
   29         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   30  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   31  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   32  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   33  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.