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Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)


RAD was created in order to give public housing authorities (PHAs) a powerful tool to preserve and improve public housing properties and address the $26 billion dollar nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance. RAD also gives owners of three HUD "legacy" program (Rent Supplement, Rental Assistance Payment, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation) the opportunity to enter into long-term contracts that facilitate the financing of improvements.

Five Things You Should Know About Public Housing Conversions
  1. RAD allows public housing agencies to leverage public and private debt and equity in order to reinvest in the public housing stock. This is critical given the backlog of public housing capital needs - estimated at over $35 billion.
  2. In RAD, units move to a Section 8 platform with a long-term contract that, by law, must be renewed in perpetuity. A Use Agreement is also recorded under RAD further enforcing HUD’s long-term interest. This ensures that the units remain permanently affordable to low-income households.
  3. Residents benefit from a right of return, a prohibition against re-screening, and robust notification and relocation rights. Residents continue to pay 30% of their adjusted income towards the rent, maintain the same basic rights as they possess in the public housing program, and gain a new option to request tenant-based assistance if they wish to subsequently move from the property.
  4. RAD maintains the ongoing public stewardship of the converted property through clear rules requiring ongoing ownership or control by a public or non-profit entity.
  5. RAD is highly cost-effective, relying on shifting existing levels of public housing funds to the Section 8 accounts as properties convert.
RAD What's New
  • With one year of HUD’s Faircloth-to-RAD initiative, Public Housing Authorities across the country are already creating nearly 1,850 new affordable housing units for some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations through this innovative program. Read the press release on RAD-to-Faircloth Conversations Creating More Rent-Assisted Housing. (May 3, 2022)
  • New Press Release from HUD News, "HUD Closes RAD Conversion Transaction with the Housing Authority of the City of Tampa Florida, to build 196 deep affordable rental homes. Read more about it here. (April 18, 2022)
  • Check out the current RADBlast! and read more about these topics: RAD Furthers Access to Opportunity through Transfers of Assistance,  Transfers of Assistance in Action – Deconcentration of Poverty in Fort Worth, TX, RAD in the Budget, and  RAD's Recent Closings. (April 14, 2022)
  • New RAD Photo Essay! Read more on how Fort Worth Housing Solution (FWHS) used RAD and the option to transfer assistance to replace the deep subsidy from Butler Place in new mixed-income communities across Fort Worth, deconcentrating poverty. (4/12/2022)
  • Executive Director Q&A: Portsmouth Metropolitan Housing Authority, Portsmouth, OH. Read our discussion with Peggy Rice, Executive Director, to see why and how the agency used RAD to renovate the 1940s era Wayne Hills development and ensure that it remains permanently affordable to low-income families. (3/3/2022)
 
RAD More Information
  • Want to know more about how RAD preserves affordable housing? Read our 2-pager, "Rental Assistance Demonstration: An Overview,” on how the RAD program works.
  • Residents, want to know more about RAD? Our web page, "What is RAD?" provides a glimpse of helpful information.
  • RAD for PRAC training videos are available. For more information visit our web page.
  • The RAD Complaint Process document is available. Read more on the process for Residents and their advocates or other stakeholders.
  • Looking for a Notice, Quick-Reference Guide, or another RAD Tool? Visit our RAD Statutes, Notices, Regulations & Tools web page for more information.
  • RAD data is available to the public. Visit the RAD Resource Desk and click on “Data and Resources.”
  • RAD Photo Essays documents a series of resident experience for properties that go through a RAD conversion.
  • The RADBlast!, an electronic communication sent to subscribers of our mailing list is now available online.
  • RAD Contact Information
    • Email rad@hud.gov for information about RAD for Public Housing
    • Email rad2@hud.gov for information about RAD for Multifamily Housing.