The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) released an interim report, Estimating the Cost to Preserve the Nation’s Public Housing, estimating the nation’s public housing capital needs at $169.1 billion, or $188,090 per unit.
- The report is part of the 10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability (10 Year Roadmap), co-chaired by: Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Shaun Donovan (CEO & President, Enterprise Community Partners), and La Shelle Dozier (Former Executive Director, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency).
- The report estimates that preserving all public housing over ten years would cost about $183.7 billion (2025 dollars)—assuming 89,905 units are modernized annually through 2035.
- In context: HUD’s last comprehensive estimate in 2010 put the cost about seven times lower at $26 billion.
- New Methodology: The 10 Year Roadmap used a new approach to estimate baseline preservation costs for public housing using data from properties converted through the RAD program. Then, the group modeled with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to predict hard construction costs and adjusted for additional expenses such as soft costs, relocation, and loan payoff.
- Intersection with LIHTC:
- Public housing authorities can seize historic LIHTC expansion efforts from the reconciliation bill to serve public housing recapitalization;
- States can establish preferences for public housing preservation projects in LIHTC QAPs; and
- If enacted, the proposed 50% eligible basis increase for extremely low-income units in the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) or Affordable Housing Equity Act of 2025 would enhance the financial viability of deeply affordable units and high-cost public housing preservation projects.
