Senior citizens are eligible for an extra "elderly" deduction or allowance under Department of Housing and Urban Development rules when they rent HUD-subsidized apartments. The deduction applies if either the head of the household, or the spouse thereof, is 62 or older. It changes the subsidy level that HUD pays by reducing the adjusted income of the household. Once you have figured your adjusted income, you can figure your subsidy based on the rent of your apartment.
Step 1
Find the adjusted gross income on your most recent tax form.
Step 2
Subtract $400 for the elderly household deduction. This is the HUD-assigned figure for this deduction at the time of publication. Thus, for an income of $16,000, the result is $15,600.
Step 3
Subtract $480 for each dependent. This is the HUD-assigned figure for this deduction, as of the time of publication. Head of household or spouse thereof do not count as dependents. In this example, if you had a child living in the home, you would deduct a further $480 from the adjusted gross income, leaving $15,120.
Step 4
Divide the remaining income by 12. Here, the result is $1,260.
Step 5
Multiply that by 30 percent (0.30) because HUD typically demands rent of 30 percent of the adjusted income. In this example, the result is $378. That is your contribution to the rent.
Step 6
Subtract your contribution from the full rent to see your subsidy amount. Here, for an apartment renting for $775, the subsidy is $397.