Millions of dollars are now available to seniors in Prince George’s County’s District 8 who need help with rent, lawn cutting, education and more.
Prince George’s County Council Chair Edward Burroughs announced the new $5 million assistance program while speaking Friday to hundreds of seniors at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, Maryland.
Money from the District 8 Senior Support Fund is available to District 8 residents who are age 65 and older. The funds are available for grass cutting, mortgage assistance, rental assistance, utility bills and property tax assistance.
Burroughs made the audience gasp when he said that last year, the council had to pay the property taxes of a 99-year-old person.
“At 99 years old, you should not have the stress of worrying whether or not you can pay your property taxes, especially when you have a billion dollar casino up the street from your house,” Boroughs said.
The money is coming from the MGM National Harbor local impact grant, which was started when the casino was built to make sure those living around the casino would benefit from its revenue. The fund is expected to help 3,000 seniors.
Beyond the money to help seniors pay the bills, the District 8 Senior Support Fund will help seniors who have trouble leaving the house with recreational activities. Education is also a part of the new program, Burroughs said.
“We will have workshops on estate planning, fraud prevention and scam avoidance, technology training, health and wellness education and financial literacy classes,” Burroughs said. “We know knowledge is power at any age.”
Burroughs said that in the past, the county had taken money from the MGM local impact grant and used it for things the county is already supposed to pay for, such as police and fire stations.
“So the residents in the local impact area never saw additional resources,” Burroughs said. “We’re going to restore the integrity of the fund by providing additional resources to the residents in the local impact area.”
As cuts are made at the federal level, Burroughs said he understands the need is more than the $5 million can provide, and added he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the money was gone by December.
“Unfortunately, we have Donald Trump — that is destroying so many safety nets for vulnerable residents and senior citizens,” Burroughs said. “He’s dismantling these social programs, we have a duty as a local government to stand up these social programs to support our residents.”
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