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RADblast! Repositioning Guides, RAD Forms, RAD in Spokane
Guide to Public Housing Repositioning
HUD has made available a new, indispensable Guide to Public Housing Repositioning, which reviews the different options, and associated planning considerations, available to Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) as they consider the long-term future of their portfolios. The focus of this Guide is on converting properties currently assisted under the Public Housing Program platform to the Section 8 Program platform, i.e., to “reposition” their Public Housing. HUD has produced three guides – one for Medium and Large PHAs (over 250 units), for Small PHAs (51-250 units)., and for Very Small PHAs (50 or fewer units). Each Guide addresses the unique characteristics and opportunities most appropriate to PHAs of the respective size grouping. The guides address the repositioning options PHAs can use alone or in combination to achieve varied repositioning objectives:
- Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)
- Section 18 Demolition/Disposition
- Streamlined Voluntary Conversion; and
- Section 32 Homeownership Program, which most larger portfolio repositioning efforts inevitably will require.
As an example of a PHA that has effectively repositioned its public housing portfolio, the Spokane Housing Authority (SHA), has converted and improved its entire public housing portfolio through RAD. The SHA provides housing assistance to over 5,500 low income families through a combination of tenant-based rental assistance, project-based rental assistance, SHA-managed apartment communities, and scattered-site housing. SHA completed a RAD portfolio conversion of 3 properties covering 125 public housing units to Section 8 project-based voucher assistance. Below you can read a discussion with Pam Tietz, Executive Director of the Spokane Housing Authority, regarding the Parsons RAD conversion and how RAD helped to secure this property's long-term future as an important source of project-based affordable housing.
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RAD Forms and Documents Available for Public Comment
HUD has published draft, revised forms and documents used in the conversion of public housing, Section 202 PRAC, and Mod Rehab properties through RAD. HUD is requesting comments from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. The public comments are due June 18, 2021, which is 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register. For more information, including the list of documents in this collection visit our RAD PRA and Supporting Contracts web page.
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Webinars Available on RAD to Faircloth and Section 3 Resident Hiring
Recently, Recap hosted two webinars that are now posted to the RAD Resource Desk:
- New Section 3 Rules and RAD. Section 3 ensures that employment and other economic opportunities generated by Federal financial assistance for housing and community development programs are, to the greatest extent feasible, directed toward low- and very low-income persons, particularly those who receive government assistance for housing. HUD has posted guidance and a webinar describing the applicability of the new Section 3 rule to RAD conversions.
- Faircloth-to-RAD. In a Faircloth-to-RAD transaction, PHAs can develop public housing units using HUD's public housing mixed-finance program with pre-approval to convert the property to a long-term Section 8 contract following construction. To help PHAs get started, HUD has produced guidance and has posted a webinar PHAs and their partners can use to understand the process and make the appropriate submissions to HUD
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Executive Director Q&A: Spokane Housing Authority, Spokane, Washington State
Here is our conversation with Pam Tietz, Executive Director of the Spokane Housing Authority:
