U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge visited senior citizens in Flatbush to discuss how her agency has been helping residents here and across the country gain access to affordable housing. 

 

She arrived at Bishop Philius & Helene Nicolas Senior Housing Complex, an affordable housing building with about 90 units that opened three years ago.

 

The tenants asked questions and weighed in on the current state of their housing. One man shared his story of being in a homeless shelter before finding a home at the complex.

 

Fudge said more work still needs to be done.

 

"We don't have to build communities that are 6,000 houses. There's 89 units here," Fudge said. "Let's start small and just get bigger and bigger, and make people feel that what we're doing is going to work for them."

 

The secretary said New York City received $60 million from HUD for housing services earlier this year. There is no number available yet as to how much the city could get from HUD next year.