Rental Assistance Demonstration

Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)

RAD was created to give public housing authorities (PHAs) a powerful tool to preserve and improve public housing properties and address the huge nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance.

The program creates new preservation opportunities based on long-term assistance contracts that facilitate the financing of improvements for HUD program properties.

Five Things You Should Know About Public Housing Conversions

1. RAD allows PHAs to leverage public and private debt and equity in order to reinvest in the public housing stock.
2. In RAD, units move to a Section 8 platform with a long-term contract that, by law, must be renewed in perpetuity.
3. Residents benefit from a right of return, a prohibition against re-screening, and robust notification and relocation rights.
4. RAD maintains the ongoing public stewardship of the converted property through clear rules requiring ongoing ownership or control.
5. RAD is cost-neutral, relying on shifting existing levels of public housing funds to the Section 8 accounts as properties convert.

More Information

RAD Resources & Documents

Resident Fact Sheet

Resident Meeting Presentation

Project Info Sheets