August 3, 2022

HUD: $33.3 Million Rental Assistance Demonstration Conversion Closed with Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, GA

Transaction preserves 114 deeply affordable homes and 114 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit homes.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing announced today that it has closed a Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) transaction with the Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, Georgia, to preserve affordable housing at its 20-building Villages at Castleberry Hill development. Through RAD, the Housing Authority will preserve 114 affordable rental homes as deeply affordable Section 8 homes as well as 114 affordable, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) homes.

The RAD transaction includes a $33.3 million construction budget ($117,000 per unit) fully financed through:

Through RAD, the immediate and future needs of the Village at Castleberry Hill project are addressed through the recapitalization, setting the project up for both financial and physical stability over the long-term. This transaction is the second phase of this development, following a 166-affordable rental home phase one project which preserved 102 affordable homes and closed in June 2018. The Village at Castleberry Hill is located near the Atlanta University Center, as well as the city’s quickly developing Westside and within a mile from the Vine City MARTA station. With this RAD transaction, the Housing Authority has been able to change the unit configuration to allow for 57 of the existing 113 market rate units to be converted to affordable LIHTC units.

About RAD
RAD was designed to help address the multi-billion-dollar nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance in the public housing portfolio and to stem the loss of affordable housing that could no longer be kept to decent standards. From the program’s inception through June 1, 2022, the Rental Assistance Demonstration has facilitated more than $14.5 billion in capital investment to improve or replace nearly 175,000 deeply rent-assisted homes, most of which house extremely low-income families, seniors, and persons with disabilities.

Under RAD, projects funded under the public housing program convert their public housing assistance to project-based Section 8 rental assistance. Under Section 8, residents continue to pay 30% of their income towards rent and the housing must continue to serve those with very low and extremely low incomes, as was the case when the property was assisted through the public housing program. Residents must be notified and consulted prior to conversion, are given a right to return to assisted housing post-construction so that the same tenants can enjoy these newly preserved and improved apartments and maintain the same fundamental rights they had as public housing residents.

RAD Resources

More programmatic information is available at the RAD website. Data on RAD is available at the RAD Resource Desk.

View photo essays and read case studies where RAD is working to successfully preserve and improve public housing for low-income families.

Watch an educational video for public housing residents or those new to the RAD program.

This post was originally published here.