A number of essential points arising under HUD’s Notice PIH 2012-32, REV-2 were discussed during Ballard Spahr’s webinar, HUD’s Revised RAD Notice — What it Means for Closed and Future Projects. As a follow-up to the webinar, Housing Plus will be posting a series of blogs summarizing key points of discussion about the RAD Notice. Our first addresses the question of transfers of assistance from a converting project to a new site.
Should a housing authority desire to move assistance off-site upon a RAD conversion, HUD asks the following key questions:
1) Is conversion on site not economically viable?
2) Is the converting project physically obsolete or economically distressed?
3) How does the transfer of assistance affect current residents?
4) What Fair Housing/civil rights issues arise and how are they addressed?
Furthermore, any transfer of assistance to an existing low-income housing tax credit property may occur only if the transfer is necessary to help deconcentrate poverty or dedenfisy a public housing project that also has extensive capital needs.
In addition, certain conditions apply to any transfer of assistance, including:
— a housing authority must request transfer within three months of the CHAP issuance;
— the transfer of assistance must be addressed in the housing authority’s Significant Amendment to Annual Plan or MTW Plan and be consistent with the locality’s Consolidated Plan;
— the covered project receiving the assistance must satisfy other requirements under the RAD Notice, including, for example, environmental review, evaluation of changes in unit configuration, Site and Neighborhood Standards, and accessibility requirements.
Our next blog post will explore issues related to the release of the HUD public housing Declaration of Trust for transactions involving transfers of assistance.