Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority will receive federal money for tenant-based rental assistance, which pays for the Section 8 housing choice voucher program that allows lower-income families, the elderly and disabled to afford housing.

SRHA will receive $121,034 under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, as state housing authorities will get nearly $7.4 million of the $1.25 billion Congress appropriated.

The money was awarded through the CARES Act Admin Fee Regular and Mainstream Voucher Program and authorized by the CARES Act itself.

Both Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine supported the legislation.

The money includes $400 million for increased subsidy costs and $850 million for administrative and other expenses housing authorities incur in supporting the health and safety of people and families, as well as costs related to retaining and supporting participating owners.

“In a time of deep uncertainty, the last thing families should have to worry about is whether they can afford a roof over their heads,” said Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in a joint statement. “That’s why we’re glad to know this federal funding will go towards helping provide needed housing assistance for families across Virginia.”

The Franklin Redevelopment and Housing Authority received $30,320 as part of the CARES Act.

The housing choice voucher program was used in Suffolk earlier this year for many of the 77 families who had been living at the Parker Riddick Apartments but had needed to relocate because their apartments are being torn down and rebuilt.

The 206 units at Parker Riddick and Cypress Manor Apartments, which will undergo a substantial rehabilitation, are being turned into Section 8 project-based voucher assistance housing.