Construction

The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program was established to give public housing authorities, including CMHA, a powerful tool to preserve, improve, and stabilize public housing properties for the long term.

In 2007, Congress directed HUD to reassess the national capital needs of public housing. HUD’s updated study, launched in 2008, revealed that the total capital needs “backlog” had reached $25.6 billion, about $23,365 per unit. The study also found that normal wear, aging, and replacement needs added an additional $3.4 billion in new repairs each year, not including routine maintenance. When combined, the initial backlog and years of continued accrual place today’s national capital needs for public housing at more than $45 billion.

Historically, housing authorities have relied solely on HUD funding to address these needs. Unfortunately, the available federal dollars have consistently fallen short. As a result, more than 10,000 public housing units are lost each year due to deterioration and disrepair. RAD was created to change this trajectory by allowing housing authorities to convert public housing units to either Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) or Project-Based Voucher (PBV) programs. This shift stabilizes long-term operating funding and unlocks access to private capital needed to complete major rehabilitation work.

RAD’s early results demonstrated the program’s impact:
     • More than $4 billion in public and private funds have been raised to repair and construct affordable housing.
     • RAD has leveraged $19 in private investment for every $1 in public housing funds.
     • Resulting construction activity has supported an estimated 75,000 jobs nationwide.
     • Achieving this scale of improvements using traditional public housing funds alone would have taken housing authorities approximately 46 years.

Importantly, RAD is cost-neutral and does not increase HUD’s overall budget. By shifting units from the traditional public housing platform to PBRA or PBV, housing authorities gain a more reliable and predictable funding stream to operate and maintain their properties. This stability allows organizations like CMHA to preserve affordability, complete long-deferred repairs, and ensure their housing remains safe, high-quality, and available for generations to come.