Transaction with the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake preserves low-income housing units for seniors and individuals with disabilities.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Multifamily Housing today announced that it has closed a Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) transaction with the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake at its New City Plaza site. The transaction will preserve 299 low-income housing units, maintaining long term, stable, and affordable housing for low-income seniors and non-elderly disabled residents in Salt Lake County. Through RAD, the immediate and future needs of the project are addressed through the recapitalization, setting the project up for both financial and physical stability over the long-term.
The RAD transaction includes a $39.8 million construction budget ($133,110 per unit) fully financed through:
- Commercial FHA-Insured Mortgage Loan
- 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
- HOME Funds
Currently, the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City and the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake manage two adjacent buildings, the City Plaza and the County High Rise, separately as individual projects. While located on the same parcel, the two buildings have lacked any physical connection between them. Through RAD, the project will convert and renovate the two projects and manage them as one project post-conversion. The City owned property (City Plaza) and the County owned property (County High Rise) managed and owned by the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake will lead to a more efficient management of the two adjacent properties, enabling the Housing Authority to free up more funding up to be allocated towards other residential and affordable housing capital needs.
This project preserves much needed affordable housing in in downtown Salt Lake City, enabling residents to have access to affordable housing in an area close to jobs and opportunities. It will add a new one-story connecting breezeway to create a unified senior community in which residents have ease of access between these buildings. Additionally, all units will be updated with wiring for broadband during the rehabilitation. Finally, the rehabilitation will include important health and safety updates, including generators and access systems, unit and common area modernization, and other building and unit upgrades.
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.