In this Issue of the RADBlast!:

• Renaissance Apartments and the Historic Former Wabash YMCA - Birthplace of Black History Month

• RAD Application Deadline For Public Housing Properties is Approaching!

• Register Today: Capital Needs Assessment eTool (CNA eTool) Walkthrough and Updates for RAD Participants

• 2022 RAD Rents Updated with 2024 OCAF

• New Updates to Environmental Review Requirements for RAD Conversions

Renaissance Apartments and the Historic Former Wabash YMCA - Birthplace of Black History Month

In observation of Black History Month, we are highlighting the work of the Renaissance Collaborative in Chicago, which is using RAD to preserve and improve 100 deeply affordable homes serving previously homeless adults, while restoring the historic Wabash Avenue YMCA. This YMCA is known to be the birthplace of this national holiday.

Built in 1913, the Wabash Avenue YMCA (Wabash YMCA) served as a place of refuge, support, and community to thousands of Black men who fled Jim Crow laws, mass lynchings, and limited opportunities in southern states. The community space was used for civil rights and racial justice organizing, and to connect individuals to jobs and housing. The swimming pool on site was the first to allow African Americans and other minorities to swim without hostility. The Harlem Globetrotters practiced in the gymnasium in the 1920s, and the meeting room holds a mural that was painted in 1936 by famed artist, William Edouard Scott, which depicts African Americans in all facets of American life and professions. 

In 1915, Dr. Carter Woodson, the son of former enslaved Americans and the second African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University, founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. In a meeting held at the Wabash YMCA in 1926, Woodson initiated the celebration of Negro History Week, which would eventually become Black History Month in 1976.

Renaissance Apartments, the residential section of the Wabash YMCA provides 100 affordable homes and supportive services to previously homeless adults. The Renaissance Collaborative recently converted the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy contract through RAD to a Section 8 contract, facilitating nearly $50,000 in rehab per home, including new appliances, windows, and flooring.The Renaissance Collaborative was able to save the community and athletic spaces in the former Wabash YMCA, which had been closed for decades, through a grant from the National Park Service's Historic Preservation Fund, which will be used to restore the gymnasium, mural, swimming pool, and other meeting rooms. As a result, the Wabash YMCA and the Renaissance Apartments will remain supportive housing and a building of historical significance in the community for decades to come.

Carter G. Woodson and Swimmers at the Wabash YMCA Pool

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RAD Application Deadline for Public Housing Properties is Approaching!

The RAD statute allows HUD to receive applications for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to convert their assistance to Section 8 until September 30, 2024. Projects that already have a RAD Commitment to Enter into a Housing Assistance Payments (CHAP) award, but have not yet closed as of September 30, 2024, would remain eligible to convert under RAD provided that they remain in compliance with all RAD Notice requirements.

While HUD has requested that Congress eliminate this application deadline, if you are a PHA contemplating RAD, we strongly encourage you to submit an application  by September 30, 2024, so that you can reserve RAD conversion authority and lock in the “2022 RAD Rents” (Section 8 Contract rents that are calculated based on the historically high public housing funding levels from Fiscal Year (FY) 22).

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Register Today: Capital Needs Assessment eTool (CNA eTool) Walkthrough and Updates for RAD Participants

On February 29^th, HUD is conducting a live walk through of recent updates to the CNA Electronic Tool (CNA e-Tool), Register today! The CNA e-Tool automates and standardizes the initiation, preparation, submission, review, and approval of a CNA, which is required in all RAD conversions. This session will teach PHAs to:

• Interact with the Needs Assessor as they use the CNA e-tool to complete assessments for the PHA
• Understand updates to the tool
• Learn new features including the ‘green' focus for components and replacements, and the repair needs analysis page, among other applicable updates.

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2022 RAD Rents Updated with 2024 OCAF

PHAs that apply for RAD are currently able to use the RAD Contract Rents that are based on Fiscal Year 2022 public housing funding levels, which were historically high. Per the RAD Notice, HUD adjusts these published rents each year by HUD's published Operating Cost Adjustment Factor (OCAF) starting in the calendar year after the base year until the HAP contract is executed at the time of conversion. HUD has re-published the RAD Rents to incorporate FY 24 OCAFs, resulting in a 5.4% increase in RAD Rents, on average, across the public housing portfolio. The spreadsheet also incorporates HUD's FY24 Fair Market Rent (FMR) data, which increase nationally by an average of approximately 12%.

The increase in RAD Rents may make new conversions possible or improve the financial position of previously planned conversions. The increase in FMRs relative to RAD Rents may also make RAD & Section 18 blends more attractive to some PHAs. Under a RAD & Section 18 blend, a PHA is permitted to convert a portion of units via RAD and a portion of units to PBVs following a Section 18 Disposition. PBV units can have contract rents up to 110% of FMR minus the utility allowance, subject to rent reasonableness. These 2022 RAD Rents adjusted by the OCAF form the basis of conversion rents for properties that apply for RAD and are awarded a CHAP before December 31, 2024. If Congress extends the deadline for application submission, the next update to the RAD Rents will be in 2025, using 2024 Operating Fund, Capital Fund, and tenant rent levels once those amounts are finalized by Congress.

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New Updates to Environmental Review Requirements for RAD Conversions

HUD has updated the RAD Environmental Quick Reference Guide (QRG) to help PHAs and Multifamily owners navigate environmental review requirements in a RAD conversion, including modifications described in the RAD Supplemental Notice published last July. Whether program participants are undergoing public housing, Moderate Rehabilitation, McKinney Vento Single Room Occupancy, or Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contract conversions, this guide provides a high level, program-specific overview and should be used in conjunction with existing HUD guidance on the environmental review process. Environmental reviews are required of all transactions under the RAD program, regardless of whether any repairs are being performed at conversion. However, the level of review required varies depending on the scope of work and the conditions of the property.

Thank you, 
The RAD Team