The RAD Program and Section 18, what you need to know about them. If you live in public housing or not. Whether you know someone that does or is planning on living there, this important information is for them. This is a call to action.
Number 45 wants to end all Public Housing
The Trump Administration’s Impact on Public and Assisted Housing
…the Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach to getting rid of all public housing one way or another.
Source: American Bar Association Article: October 02, 2019, HUMAN RIGHTS
First the Selloff of NYCHA Property and Air Rights Now This
Mayor Bill and his housing team are proud of their latest deal. That deal is to use the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program or RAD. A housing deal championed by Ben Carson and Number 45. The mayor and his team believe this is the answer to the 32 billion in capital repairs NYCHA needs.
What it really is a dirty bandage on a bleeding wound. In reality, the mayor has no solution to the problem he inherited from Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. Instead, his solution is to privatize public housing. Essentially, making it someone else’s headache. Or should I say windfall?
Questions and Some Answers
There are a few questions that jump right out about this deal. The least of which is why tenants are kept in the dark about finer points of the deal.
Does this explain why some tenants in Linden and Boulevard Houses believed an outside entity is running their complex?
- If so, why did the mayor choose to keep it a secret?
- How long ago did this start?
- Who are the developers, what is their history in dealing with large complexes?
- Why did the city agree to this plan?
Many more questions need answers but for now, we’ll start with these.
I have placed a few excerpts from the article NYCHA inks $1.5B deal to privatize management of 5,900 units to get things started. This article appears in The Real Deal an online publication about real estate news.
Excerpt from NYCHA inks $1.5B deal to privatize management of 5,900 units
The De Blasio administration resolved to employ RAD as much as possible at NYCHA complexes after deeming an early use of the program with L+M to be a success.
Continued from the article
It (meaning NYCHA) is also looking to have private landlords manage 62,000 units, which would be converted to Section 8 housing.
Continued from the article: The agency has only converted about 7,700 housing units since embracing the program roughly three years ago.
Excerpt from NYCHA inks $1.5B deal to privatize management of 5,900 units
Under RAD, private interests repair and manage the properties and are essentially paid by the federal Section 8 program that helps tenants pay rent. The private parties view it as low-risk because Section 8 is consistently funded, unlike the revenue streams that support the majority of Housing Authority units
On The Downlow
So, now you know that the city started using this program approximately 3 years ago. Did you hear about it? No. Did you hear about NYCHA was selling land and air rights to developers to generate funds? AKA The East New York Plan
Of course, you did. The mayor was on the news touting how this was necessary to close the budget gap in NYCHA. How it is going to help NYCHA tenants by getting funds to make repairs. He stated that the neighborhoods this plan would affect needed this housing. No, we do not. But you can read more about this at The East New York Plan. which began in 2016 about 3 years ago. Hmmm…
What Is The RAD Program
The RAD Program and Section 18 According To HUD
The following is from the HUD’s Frequently Asked Question website. It concerns RAD and Section 18. It is quite thorough and at times hard to follow. I have highlighted some items you should be aware of.
Section 18 and RAD Blending: Program FAQs
PIH 2018-04 (HA) permits certain properties converting under RAD to receive Section 18 approval and vouchers, subject to the availability of appropriations, for a portion of units as long as it is part of a ¹strategy to replace and redevelop the units. Specifically, Section 3.A.3.c of the notice states:
“Comprehensive Rehabilitation or Replacement through Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). The PHA is converting at least ²75 percent of the public housing units within a project (as project is defined by RAD) under RAD and meets the requirements of the RAD Final Implementation Notice REV-3, H- 2017-3, and is replacing the units ³proposed for disposition (up to 25 percent of the public housing units within a project) with Section 8 project-based voucher (PBV)
What this section means.
This is a small section of the FAQs for RAD and Section 18 but it says a lot.
Point 1: The Strategy
Strategy to replace and redevelop the units
The housing authority can either replace or redevelop housing apartments. Redevelop means to make improvements. Replace means to demolish and replace. In either case, this usually leads to higher rents.
Note: Improvements in an apartment are considered valid reasons to raise rents.
Note: There is no guarantee that you will be able to move back into your apartment once it has been replaced or redeveloped. Read about what is happening in Minneapolis to see how the housing authority can push people out of their apartments. Then while keeping them empty benefit from no monitoring or enforcement.
Excerpt: As long as the residents are displaced and the buildings are empty, MPHA is in great shape for conversion because there is no monitoring or enforcement.
SECTION 18 Demolition & Disposition: A Fact Sheet
Point 2: The 75 Percent Rule
The PHA is converting at least 75 percent of the public housing units within a project
The housing authority is converting 75 percent of the apartments in your project. No matter the size of your project 75 percent is a large number of apartments. You must understand how this conversion will affect you.
Note: the number of converted apartments can be higher, 75% is a starting point.
To see how this could work, click here: Doing the Math On RAD Conversion of Apartments
Point 3: Section 8 Subsidy of Units
…the units proposed for disposition (up to 25 percent of the public housing units within a project) with Section 8 project-based voucher (PBV)
This is simple, 25 percent of the apartments will be for Section 8 housing. How are the apartments chosen that will become Section 8 subsidized? And what happens to the tenant that was in that apartment who doesn’t have Section 8? Is it fair to remove non-Section 8 tenants from their apartments to meet a requirement?
Is this all to RAD?
NO, this is a short breakdown. The rest of the section on RAD gets into requirements and procedures. Items that the Public Housing Authority (PHA) and the developers are supposed to follow. I say supposed because there is little to stop them from violating the tenents in the program. Read CALL TO ACTION! especially the last few lines of the first paragraph.
We’ve covered the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration or RAD part of this article. Take a breath and we’ll move on to the Section 18 component of the program. This is the component that the DeBlasio administration wants to push.
SECTION 18
Section 18, not Section 8 is a part of the RAD program that allows the Public Housing Authority PHA to use demolition or disposition of housing units. At this point, RAD is not sounding so tenant-friendly. Once again I have placed excerpts from NYCHA inks $1.5B deal to privatize management of 5,900 units. I have also placed excerpts from a group in Minnesota fighting the RAD program and Section 18.
The Part 200 Disposition Process
Excerpt from NYCHA inks $1.5B deal to privatize management of 5,900 units
The development teams will also use other methods to convert operating subsidy to Section 8, including Section 18 and the Part 200 disposition processes, according to NYCHA.
Part 200 Disposition According to HUD
“Disposition is the transfer of public housing properties to private developers and authorities. Disposition allows private developers and housing nonprofits to take ownership of public housing properties, allowing them to be converted into private, market-rate housing.”
This means the anti-eviction mayor and his housing team plan on dispossessing tenants. Notice the words, “converted into private, market-rate housing.” Nowhere does it say affordable housing.
Note: This section allows the owner who is not NYCHA but a developer to raise the rent. It also means that the owner or in this case development company does not have to let the tenant back into the apartment.
All public housing tenants need to understand that Section 18 and the Part 200 disposition are tools to change the face of public housing. The word disposition should set off bells. This means the removal of tenants from the units as needed.
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Disclaimer
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and nothing stated here is legal advice. This article applies to the five boroughs of New York. All information deemed accurate but not guaranteed. Always check the real estate laws in your part of the country.
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