Sen. Mark Warner Presents Culpepper Garden With $2 Million Check At Community Town Hall With Rep. Don Beyer
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Culpepper Garden received federal earmarks in March to fund housing assistance for at-risk older Americans
ARLINGTON, Virginia, May 20, 2024) – Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08) presented the staff of Culpepper Garden with a $2.03 million check at a community town hall today at the senior living facility in Arlington. In March, Sen. Warner’s office helped secure a $2.03 million grant for Culpepper Garden as part of a Senate appropriations bill that will fund a housing revitalization project to improve accessibility and safety at Culpepper Garden, which serves at-risk older adults living on very low and fixed incomes.
“We are immensely grateful to Senator Warner and Congressman Beyer for visiting us today and for their continued commitment to providing affordable housing for at-risk older adults. We know that stable and quality housing leads to better health outcomes for vulnerable older adults, and these earmarks will go directly towards improving our facilities and our residents’ quality of life,” said Culpepper Garden President Marta Hill Gray, “So many of our residents struggle to afford housing and the care they need amidst soaring costs of living. If not for Culpepper Garden, many of our residents would end up unhoused. This funding comes at a crucial time and will make an incredible difference for our residents.”
As the first assisted living facility in the country to receive federal rent subsidies from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Culpepper Garden is a model for enhancing access to specialized housing and care for older adults who need it the most. As it stands, low-cost assisted living facilities are few and far between; the current waitlist for an apartment in Culpepper Garden’s Assisted Living wing is two years long, indicating a growing need for affordable housing options as America’s aging population continues to swell.
“I believe that rent subsidies and other graduated programs make a huge amount of sense. Too often, in almost all of our government programs, we have a cliff — if you make a dollar less than the [threshold] number, you get all the benefits in the world. But if you make a dollar more, you lose everything,” said Sen. Warner while speaking to Culpepper Garden residents, “For supplemental housing assistance, it’s going to take a partnership between the feds, the state, and local governments to institute more graduated subsidies across a series of programs.”
While taking questions during the town, Sen. Warner reassured residents that he will continue to protect basic Medicare and SNAP benefits, which many Culpepper Garden residents rely on, because they are crucial to overall well being and result in favorable health outcomes.
Culpepper Garden provides 350 affordable independent and assisted-living apartments for low-income older Arlingtonians and is home to a vast green space that is home to more than 30,000 daffodils and native Virginia plants.
Photos and video from the event are available here.
