Up to $400 a month towards rent if you are 60 or over

It is money for the rent, not a cheque to you. The Housing Department pays up to four hundred dollars a month directly to the landlord, by direct deposit, and you pay the difference. The exact amount is not fixed: the regulation calculates it as the maximum subsidy authorised for that project minus the equivalent of 10% of your adjusted monthly income. Adjusted monthly income means one twelfth of your annual income, once non-recurring temporary income is excluded and, with evidence, medical expenses and utilities are deducted. Medical expenses are deducted at 50%, and include prescribed medicines, the cost of the health plan, deductibles and equipment recommended by a doctor. The utilities deducted are water, electricity, refrigerator and stove, per the table of the Housing Choice Voucher Programme for your region. In other words: the lower your adjusted income, the higher the subsidy, up to the $400 cap.

The regulation requires four things. First: being an older adult, defined as a person aged sixty or over. Second: lacking housing and owning no real property during the year before applying, absent just cause — and the regulation states twice that the Department has discretion to evaluate, deny or approve each exceptional situation on its merits, and that no such determination serves as precedent. Third: meeting the income limits, which are 80% of HUD’s median annual income limit, or 50% or 60% of median income if the project receives tax credits from the Housing Finance Authority. Fourth: that the housing unit applied for meets the regulation’s requirements. For the income calculation, the income anticipated over the twelve months following the application is considered, and it includes wages, pensions, bonuses, commissions, interest and dividends, income from sale or rental of property over $5,000 a year, investment withdrawals over $5,000 a year, Social Security, annuities, insurance policies, retirement funds, lottery, unemployment, disability, a relative’s death benefits, inheritances, and government and family financial assistance. Non-recurring temporary income is excluded: special gifts, Nutrition Assistance Programme aid, medicine vouchers, the Retirement System’s and AEELA’s medicine bonus, the summer bonus, and income from state or federal training programmes.

• Being an older adult: the regulation defines this as a person aged sixty or over.Verified against the official source
• Lacking housing and owning no real property during the year before applying, absent just cause evaluated by the Department.Verified against the official source
• That gross income not exceed 80% of the median annual income limit established by HUD, per the geographic distribution of its tables.Verified against the official source
• If the project receives tax credits from the Housing Finance Authority, meeting 50% or 60% of median income, as governs that project by annual circular letter.Verified against the official source
• That the housing unit for which the subsidy is sought meets the regulation’s housing requirements and passes the initial inspection.Verified against the official source

• Original birth certificate of the applicant and a copy for every member of the household; copy of the resident card, if applicable; and copy of the Social Security card of every member.
• A photograph of all household members, all together in one photograph.
• Original criminal record certificate for every member of the household.
• Evidence of income and recurring expenses for every member, including medical and utility expenses, plus the latest rent and utility payment receipts.
• Certified copy of the latest income tax return filed by every member, if applicable.
• Negative CRIM certification and negative debt certification from ASUME and the Treasury Department.
• Original and copy of the eviction letter or the document evidencing disaster, displacement or any event that caused the loss of housing, if applicable.
• Negative certification from the Sex Offender registry, which the project itself carries out per the document supplied by the Programme.

1. 1

   Step 1: Choose the project and ask for the application there

   The regulation says it plainly: the interested older adult must complete and file an application that will be provided at the offices of the project of their choice. You do not apply at a central office: you apply at the project where you want to live. The Housing Department publishes a directory of elderly housing with some forty projects across the island, including in Aguada, Guayama, Caguas, San Juan, Carolina, Moca, Bayamón, Comerío, Guaynabo, Maunabo, Arecibo, Ponce, Coamo, Yauco, Toa Baja, Gurabo, Humacao, Isabela, Juncos, Hormigueros, Mayagüez, Río Grande, Salinas, Rincón, Añasco, Vieques and Villalba.

2. 2

   Step 2: Prepare the fourteen documents, not fewer

   The regulation’s list is long and some documents take time: original birth certificate of the applicant and copies for the rest; resident card if applicable; Social Security card for all; a photograph of all members together; original criminal record certificate for all; evidence of income; evidence of recurring, medical and utility expenses; certified copy of the latest tax return, if applicable; original and copy of an eviction letter or disaster or displacement document, if applicable; latest rent and utility receipts; negative CRIM certification; negative debt certification from ASUME and Treasury; negative Sex Offender registry certification, done by the project; and any other document the Programme requires. Start with the slow ones — criminal record, CRIM, ASUME, Treasury — because they come from other agencies.

3. 3

   Step 3: Gather the medical-expense evidence: it lowers your adjusted income

   This is the step people skip and it costs them money. The subsidy is calculated on adjusted monthly income, and from income are deducted medical expenses at 50% — prescribed or over-the-counter medicines prescribed by a doctor, the cost of the health plan, deductibles and equipment recommended by a doctor, when recurring and certified by the doctor — and the utilities for water, electricity, refrigerator and stove, per the utilities table of the Housing Choice Voucher Programme for your region. The higher the evidenced medical expense, the lower the adjusted income and the higher the subsidy. Without evidence there is no deduction.

4. 4

   Step 4: Understand how the number comes out and who gets paid

   The monthly rent subsidy is up to a maximum of $400.00 and equals the difference between the maximum subsidy authorised for the project minus the equivalent of 10% of your adjusted monthly income. The payment does not reach you: it is paid directly to the landlord by direct deposit. And there is a rule for someone with no income receiving the maximum $400 subsidy: if at any point they begin receiving any of the countable income, the 10% formula takes effect sixty days after receiving that income.

5. 5

   Step 5: Know how the waiting list is ordered

   Once the Department receives the complete file and determines you are eligible, it sets the order of priority considering four factors: the date and time the application was filed; your health condition or disability; the condition of the housing where you live; and other criteria or priorities in cases of disaster, displacement, domestic violence, closure by the Health Department, eviction, overcrowding, doubled-up households and involuntary separation, among others. That is: the date matters, but it is not the only thing, and if you are in one of those situations it pays to document it from the application onward.

6. 6

   Step 6: Afterwards: contract, inspection and annual review

   The project sends the Housing Department, within five days of signing the lease, the participant’s eligibility certification, the subsidy granted, the contract, a copy of the initial inspection and the participant’s acceptance of the unit, electronically. The regulation also provides for inspection of the housing unit and an annual review with its own procedure. The subsidy is not simply permanent: it is recertified.

The application is completed and filed at the offices of the project of your choice, not at a central office. The Housing Department publishes at vivienda.pr.gov the directory of elderly housing with each project’s address. The programme is administered by the Housing Subsidy and Community Development Secretariat. If you need guidance first, the Department has ten regional offices and this site carries the directory.

• Self-disqualifying for owning property: the regulation admits just cause and evaluates each exceptional case.
• Looking for a central office to apply at: the application is provided and filed at the project of your choice.
• Not documenting medical expenses, which are deducted at 50% and raise the subsidy.
• Not documenting water, electricity, refrigerator and stove expenses, which are also deducted.
• Believing the cheque arrives at your home: the subsidy is paid directly to the landlord by direct deposit.
• Leaving the negative CRIM, ASUME and Treasury certifications to the end, since they come from other agencies.
• Submitting only the applicant’s birth certificate without copies for the other household members.
• Not mentioning an eviction, disaster, domestic violence or overcrowding situation in the application, which are priority criteria.
• Assuming the subsidy, once granted, is not reviewed: there is inspection and annual review.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de la Vivienda

  Vivienda

  docs.pr.gov

• Regulation 9622 of 21 November 2024, same Act 173-1996 programme

  vivienda

  docs.pr.gov

• Housing Department directory of elderly housing

  vivienda

  www.vivienda.pr.gov