Last week HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) published two Federal Register notices concerning the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. Both notices implement program changes under the fiscal year (FY) 2018 appropriations act.
The first notice, titled “Rental Assistance Demonstration: Implementation of Certain Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Appropriations Act Provisions,” describes the following changes to RAD’s first and second components.
RAD First Component (Public Housing Conversions)
The 2018 appropriations act authorized an increase in the cap on public housing conversions to 455,000. Properties currently on the waiting list that receive awards will have rents based on modified FY 2016 public housing levels.
At the end of the calendar year, HUD will calculate RAD rents based on FY 2018 operating fund, capital fund, and tenant rent levels (“FY 18 RAD rents”) and any new awards made after January 1, 2019, will use these rent levels.
Any PHAs that submitted “letters of interest” to reserve their position on the waiting list have 60 days to submit a complete RAD application, portfolio award request, or multi-phase award requested for the number of units included in their letter of interest. HUD has sent an email to these PHAs notifying them of this deadline.
HUD is establishing a simpler process for PHAs to withdraw and reapply for RAD in order to receive more current rent levels.
RAD Second Component (Rent Supp, RAP, Mod Rehab, SRO)
Conversion of properties assisted by Section 202 supportive housing for the elderly (202 PRACs) will be addressed in a later notice.
Conversions of Rent Supp and RAP projects in high-cost areas shall have initial rents set at comparable market rents for the market area.
Second component conversions may not be the basis for re-screening or termination of assistance or eviction of any tenant family, and such families will not be considered new admissions for any purpose.
The PIH office also published a Federal Register notice titled “Rental Assistance Demonstration: Supplemental Guidance on Final Notice.” The notice announces revisions to Notice PIH 2012-32/H-2017-03 (the “RAD notice”) pursuant to yesterday’s release of Notice PIH 2018-11. The RAD statute requires that all changes to the RAD notice must be published in the Federal Register at least 10 days prior to implementation. The new guidance makes five changes to the Revision 3 notice:
- It authorizes a streamlined conversion option for some small PHAs with 50 or fewer public housing units.
- It expands “rent bundling” flexibility to allow PHAs to blend the subsidy between RAD project-based voucher (PBV) and non-RAD PBV contracts.
- PHAs will be permitted to establish project-specific utility allowances, allowing for increased rents due to reductions in utility costs.
- A higher developer fee will be allowed for owners who adopt a waiting list preference for households exiting homelessness or permanent supportive housing.
- It preserves resident relocation rights under demolition/disposition actions.
This week the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced via RADBlast! that it has archived a Q&A webinar on these new notices. Both the recording of the webinar and the slide deck are available on the RAD Resource Desk.
The RADBlast! also announced that due to technical issues, some of those who originally had registered for the webinar were unable to participate. As a result, HUD is hosting another session for additional Q&A on the two notices this Friday, July 13, at 2:30 p.m. eastern time. To register for tomorrow's webinar, click here. To join the RADBlast! mailing list, click here.
