RAD

From HUD's press release:

 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing is announcing today it recently closed a $930 million Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) transaction with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) at its Edenwald Houses property. This transaction will allow NYCHA to provide much needed upgrades and renovations to 2,035 affordable rental homes. Through RAD, these homes will be converted to Project-Based Section 8 housing using a RAD/Section 18 Blend, a component of RAD that allows for higher levels of funding to directly support improvements to resident homes. This is the largest transaction to date under the RAD program.

Edenwald Houses, built in 1953, is located in the Bronx and is the largest and oldest public housing development in New York City. It is home to nearly 5,000 residents. To ensure quality housing and appropriately address the needs of the community, HUD worked closely with residents and a NYCHA partner team for over two years to thoughtfully design each aspect of the transformation of these homes for current and future generations.

The RAD conversion will support the rehabilitation of the site’s 40 residential buildings with updated features and amenities. In addition to repairs to the building exterior, the project will include upgraded kitchens, bathrooms, heating and cooling systems, and mechanical systems, while also addressing lead and asbestos hazards.

Energy efficiency is a key component of the renovation plans, which will be achieved through new energy-efficient windows, electric panels, LED lights, and resilient flooring throughout each home. The project will also include onsite amenities such as a fully renovated senior center, new laundry facilities, improved waste management, free wireless internet, outdoor green spaces, security, and the development and implementation of a social services program.

The total rehabilitation cost for Edenwald Houses is $480 million ($236,000 per home) and is fully financed through RAD using:

• Debt provided by the New York City Housing Development Corporation
• Federal and State Rehabilitation Tax Credits
• New York City Housing Preservation and Development funding
• Developer equity contributions

Read HUD's press release.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us that housing instability and homelessness have disastrous effects on our national economic and public health. Public housing authorities (PHAs) are our nation’s most effective affordable housing delivery system, serving over 3.3 million households under the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs, with over one million of these households including children. Additionally, over half of public housing and voucher households are headed by a senior or a person with disability.

These policy priorities reflect the challenges facing large PHAs, who manage an undercapitalized and overregulated public housing portfolio facing not only an $80 billion capital needs backlog, but also housing supply shortages, escalating rents and increasing demand for housing assistance. Despite these burdens, PHAs provide crucial housing assistance in their communities through owning, managing and improving public housing, making the private rental market affordable through housing vouchers, and developing new affordable housing through public and private partnerships. PHAs are lifelines for the households and communities they serve.

As much-needed COVID funding and waivers expire, PHAs continue to face serious operational challenges due to tight rental markets, high inflation, rising construction and maintenance costs, labor market shortages, and insufficient funding. Compounding these challenges is a divided Congress considering significant reductions in appropriations for FY2024. Evidence emerging from the pandemic experience demonstrates that robust social safety net programs are critical to protecting our most vulnerable individuals — children, seniors and people with disabilities — making deep cuts to these programs indefensible.

To ensure CLPHA’s members have the tools and resources to fulfill their missions, CLPHA’s 2023 priorities are:

• Develop and fund a Public Housing Ten-Year Sustainability Plan to recapitalize the aging public housing portfolio
• Improve and expand the Housing Choice Voucher program to better serve local markets and special-needs households
• Increase affordable housing supply using new incremental vouchers coupled with LIHTC expansion
• Expand and incentivize cross-sector collaborations that improve the life outcomes of assisted households and address racial disparities and inequities

View CLPHA's 2023 Policy Priorities