icon Blueprint for May

RAD is the Rage!

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3 min read

Attendance at this year’s annual meeting of the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association at the Breakers in Palm Beach was a record high for the 34 year-old organization. Along with Henry Flagler’s beach palace, an aggressive level of development activity and the chance to network with industry luminaries, I have to think one of the lures was an entire day’s symposium devoted to the progress of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.

Washington is a city that suffers from an acute case of acronymphomania and government programs frequently have meaningless names. But not in this case.  RAD is truly a rad solution to the following problem: What do you do when the nation’s public housing stock needs $40 billion of attention and a stymied Congress seems to consider any new appropriations inappropriate?  Well, under the leadership of then-Secretary Shaun Donovan, what HUD did was shift money from one budget line to another, providing Section 8 support that encouraged additional private investment to preserve and repair affordable housing our society could not afford to give up on and, most importantly, would pencil out at net neutral. Speaking of squeezing blood from a stone.

The enthusiasm for RAD in the room at the Breakers persuaded us to focus much of this May issue on providing practical information about this demonstration program that our conference attendees seemed eager to hear.

To those owners and investors who choose to participate in the RAD program, Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) are going to have to be your buddies. But all PHAs are not created equal. Like any buddies, they have their own personalities and quirks. So we sent staff writer Mark Olshaker out to question RAD users about the benefits and liabilities of these relationships. (Partnering with PHAs).

Upgrading a building will, of course, improve the daily lives of residents. But what to do with them when the upgrading is in progress? Joel Swerdlow looks at the current RAD Relocation Rules as well as industry suggestions about changes that are needed. And on page 21, Bendix Anderson chronicles the Gorman and Company’s complicated effort to complete a RAD preservation project in Avondale, Arizona, by the program’s deadline. (Madison Heights Beats the Clock.)

Other practical information you will find in these crowded pages (and provided by NH&RA members) include historic preservation expert Bill MacCrostie’s thorough update on the advocacy work of the Historic Tax Credit Coalition and Boston attorney John Gahan’s advice on protections general partners need in their agreements when they wake up one morning to discover they have new investors to deal with.  (Strange Bedfellows)

And while we’re on NH&RA meetings and members: During a break at the Breakers, Holly Bray of Love Funding told me about the preservation of a mid-20th century building she was working on in Suitland, Maryland. And she said, “You know, everyone involved in this project met each other at NH&RA events.” Perhaps not such a rad occurrence, but certainly one we wanted to cover. (Arnold Gardens). And hopefully motivation for you to join us at the upcoming Summer Institute on Martha’s Vineyard or the annual Fall Forum (and Timmy Award presentation) in Boston.

Marty Bell, Editor