Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)

On February 7, the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, chaired by HUD Secretary Ben Carson, released its one-year report on Opportunity Zones to President Trump. The report makes 43 legislative and regulatory recommendations relating to Opportunity Zones, including a call for the collection of data to assess the incentive’s value to distressed communities.

President Trump’s Administration released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 budget request, “A Budget for America’s Future.” HUD is allocated $47.9 billion in funding, a 15.2 percent decrease over FY 2020 enacted levels with notable zeroing out of the HOME program, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Public Housing Capital Fund, Choice Neighborhoods and HOPE VI.

As RAD conversions continue to drive Project Based Voucher (PBV) growth, HUD proposes to fill an information gap to enable monitoring, tracking and analysis of PHAs’ PBV performance. Comments are due February 24, 2020.

The Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA) identified public housing transformation as one of the its highest priorities and is considering the following options:

HUD released an evaluation of its Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which finds significant evidence that RAD is stimulating billions of dollars in capital investment, improving living conditions for low-income residents and enhancing the financial health of these critical affordable housing resources. The report says that the 956 RAD conversions studied leveraged $9.66 for every dollar provided through HUD’s public housing programs, that all rehabilitation projects covered their rehabilitation needs, that there is an 87 percent post-conversion decrease in unscheduled capital needs for completed RAD properties and that tenants were pleased with the improvement.

HUD released a Revised Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Notice, with comments due on November 12. The notice announces the posting of the fourth revision to the RAD notice and solicits public comment on the removed restrictions on certain HOPE VI properties that are under ten years old and the elimination of the selection of applications […]

HUD released Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Notice (H 2019-09/ PIH 2019-23), which clarifies certain requirements of First Component RAD projects and implements its new RAD for Project Rental Assistance Contracts (PRAC) program, which will allow Section 202 PRAC properties to convert to long-term Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) or PBV contracts.

In an ongoing effort to make information available on the impacts of RAD in communities around the country, HUD has published new state-by-state RAD fact sheets that provide summary information on the RAD activity in each state. The data is “live” and updates real-time as properties complete the conversion process.

HUD published an updated RAD Inventory Assessment Tool. The tool is designed for PHAs that are newly considering or re-considering RAD at RAD rents based on the FY 18 Appropriation levels.

HUD now expects to release the RAD revised notice (RADRev4) with modest changes to the public housing component and thorough instructions for the new RAD-for-PRAC authority in early to mid-June 2019. While waiting for RADRev4 there is plenty PHAs and their partners can do now to take advantage of recent flexibilities with RAD and other HUD preservation-redevelopment tools. 

HUD revised the Quick Reference Guide for Environmental Review Requirements for RAD Conversions. This version provides a more streamlined organization of information, incorporates frequently asked questions and introduces simplified environmental reviews for RAD conversions to PBRA that do not entail any work.

Tom Davis, Director of the Office of Recapitalization at HUD, sent a letter to Commitment to Enter into a Housing Assistance Payments Contract (CHAP) Awardees detailing the 2019 timeline for year-end closings of Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD).