The Wareham Housing Authority has been earmarked $500,000 for new senior housing construction and improvements as part of a combined $5.4 billion in the state senate’s Affordable Housing Act. 

The funding in the act “bolsters our local housing authorities’ abilities to provide the adequate housing services and supports needed for some of our community’s most vulnerable residents,” said Third Bristol and Plymouth Senator Marc Pacheco. 

According to Robert Powilatis, the chair of the Wareham Housing Authority’s board, it’s not set in stone how the money would be used. 

Powilatis said the Authority had a conversation with the senator’s office about working with properties that have been foreclosed by the town for non-payment of taxes. 

The Authority could use the funding to appraise these homes, to pay their back taxes and to renovate them into affordable housing for seniors, said Powilatis. 

However, he added, if the details of that funding mean it can’t be used for that purpose, the Authority can use it for repairs on its existing properties, he said.

The Senate’s bill still needs to go through the rest of the legislative process to become enacted.