The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), authorized by Congress in 2012, enables public housing authorities (PHAs) to convert their public housing stock to project-based Section 8 housing, using either Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) or Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) contracts. This alternative funding structure is meant to address both the short-term capital needs of public housing properties and their longer-term preservation, revitalization, and financial viability. RAD also provides certain tenant protections, such as prohibiting the rescreening of residents after the conversion; the right-to-return to an assisted unit if residents need to be temporarily relocated during rehabilitation or construction; and requiring rent increases above a certain threshold that result from conversion to be phased in gradually.

This report is part of five studies conducted in response to Congress’s request to evaluate RAD’s implementation and its impact on tenants, related protections, including the Choice Mobility option, and long-term preservation of housing affordability. This study uses HUD administrative data to evaluate whether residents living in assisted units after RAD conversion continue to pay an affordable rent, especially for those residents who previously paid flat rents and may have been subject to a phased-in rent increase.

Below is a list of the studies conducted as part of the RAD evaluation:

• Asset Management of RAD-Converted Properties
• Implementation and Impact of the Choice Mobility Option
• Rental Affordability
• Organizational Change of Public Housing Agencies