RAD Archives
Affordable Multifamily Goes Electric in the Empire State
A Major Public Housing Renovation in Buffalo Proceeds Under New York’s New All-Electric Construction Mandate
Ethan Finlan • 11 min read
In 2022, New York State announced that it would require new and rebuilt high-rise buildings to be fully electric-powered to meet emissions reduction goals.
Case Study
COVID Relief Aids Housing, but There’s a Deadline
Mark Fogarty • 8 min read
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), the official name of the COVID stimulus bill, wasn’t associated with housing at the time.
Industry Insights
Public Housing Innovations
Kaitlyn Snyder • 4 min read
The needs of the public housing portfolio are well documented: annual shortfalls in Congressional funding dating back to the 1980s have contributed to an estimated capital backlog of $70 billion.
The Guru Is In
Disrupting Public Housing Out of Faircloth
David A. Smith • 7 min read
In 1998, when North Carolina Democrat-turned-Republican Lauch Faircloth added the amendment for which he became infamous, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) were in a protracted bureaucratic standoff combining the worst features of medieval sieges and the First World War.
Leveraging Private Capital to Rehabilitate HUD Legacy and Public Housing Properties
HUD’s RAD Program
Pamela Martineau • 8 min read
Launched through federal legislation in 2012, the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has leveraged over $19.3 billion in construction investment to improve or construct over 174,000 public housing units and 53,000 Section 8, tax credit and market-rate apartments co-located in these public housing communities.
Three Years On
Faircloth-to-RAD Helps Secure the Future of Public Housing
Abram Mamet • 10 min read
In 2021, new guidance was issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that allowed Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) much-enhanced structure for mixed financing methods to expand their overall supply of units.
Case Study
Owens and Queen Manor Apartments in Dover, DE
RAD 2.0 Streamlines its Reach
Mark Fogarty • 7 min read
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program was a big idea: to raise money to rehabilitate crumbling old public housing properties by raising private equity and converting the buildings into project-based Section 8 developments.
Case Study
Energy Retrofits in New Mexico
Mark Fogarty • 6 min read
Residents at three public housing authority properties for Santa Fe County in New Mexico are happy to see solar panels installed on the roofs of their projects, as the arrays also come with 16 additional upgrades for the tenants.
The Guru Is In
How Long Does it Take to Fix A Mistake?
David A. Smith • 5 min read
How long does it take to fix an original-sin mistake?