The Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) has completed the conversion of its first 441 units of public housing to project-based assistance under HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD).
CHA plans to convert all of its 2,129 public housing units to RAD over the next 12 to 18 months. The portfolio-wide RAD conversion was approved by HUD in December 2013 and, at the time, was the fifth-largest RAD conversion in the country and the only public housing conversion in Massachusetts. In mid-December, Congress raised the national RAD cap from 60,000 to 185,000 units, which will allow conversion of about ten percent of the public housing in country.
The first five public housing developments converted by the CHA were Putnam Gardens, John F. Kennedy Apartments, Jackson Gardens, Lincoln Way and L.B. Johnson Apartments. Three more developments are out for construction bids and will close in March 2015. The remaining 13 developments and associated scattered sites will close in mid-2015 through spring 2016.
RAD provides a more stable and predictable funding platform and allows owners to leverage additional funding for capital improvements when compared with public housing.
CHA’s use of RAD was made possible by support from the city of Cambridge as well as participation in HUD’s Moving to Work (MTW) program. MTW provides on-going operating support and is being used as a vehicle to secure enhanced tenant protections, similar to those currently in place under the public housing program.
CHA’s financial partners, in addition to HUD, included Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, MassDevelopment, Wells Fargo and Citibank.
"We are pleased to have this important first-step in transforming public housing in Cambridge to a more stable, long-term solution allowing us to continue to provide deeply affordable housing in one of the highest cost markets in the country. RAD will allow the CHA to provide our residents with high quality housing that will be operated and maintained at levels we can all be proud of for generations to come," CHA Executive Director Gregory Russ said in a statement.
