Council of Large Public Housing Authorities Report: An Estimated $169 Billion is Needed to Preserve Nation’s Public Housing

By Libby O’Neill, NLIHC Senior Policy Analyst

The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) released an interim report on October 23, Estimating the Cost to Preserve the Nation’s Public Housing, which estimates the capital needs of the nation’s public housing units to be $169.1 billion, or $188,090 per unit. The report is part of an ongoing effort led by CLPHA called the 10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability (10 Year Roadmap), for which NLIHC sits on the Steering Committee.  

Public housing provides rental homes for about 1.6 million people across the United States. Seventy-two percent of households living in public housing have extremely low incomes (less than 30% of AMI or the federal poverty level, whichever is greater). As our nation continues to experience an ever-worsening housing crisis that hits the lowest-income renters the hardest, public housing is a vital resource that provides stability and well-being for residents.

Public Housing Authorities (PHAs), which administer public housing, have faced significant funding shortfalls for decades, leading to a significant backlog of physical needs. The public housing Capital Fund is the federal vehicle used to provide funds to address these needs; however, funding has been inadequate to maintain most public housing units. Picture of Preservation from NLIHC and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) finds that approximately 267,000 public housing homes (30%) were in public housing developments that failed their most recent Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) physical inspection and likely require immediate investment—twice the number that failed in 2019. One in five public housing homes were in developments that have also failed two or more of their latest REAC scores, up from 9% in 2019.

The interim report with the capital needs estimate of $169 billion is the first publication from the 10 Year Roadmap. Ultimately, the goal of this effort is to develop recommendations that would transform public housing to provide affordable, sustainable, service-enriched housing for residents. Future reports will include options for financing tools to achieve these goals, as well as opportunities for cross-sector engagement with public housing.

The capital needs estimate used data from HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) database to develop the estimate. Researchers used an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to model the association between a set of property characteristics and hard construction costs, resulting in an estimate for the cost of addressing the capital needs of public housing developments that have not undergone a RAD conversion. As the report states, it is important to note that the use of the RAD database is not intended to endorse the RAD program as a strategy for preserving the entire public housing portfolio. The RAD data was used because of the large, publicly available sample of public housing developments. Additionally, the estimate does not replace the need to conduct an inspection-based needs assessment for a property undergoing rehabilitation.  

Our nation’s public housing needs significant investment. The federal government has neglected its role in maintaining quality, safe homes for public housing residents. Current funding levels for the Public Housing Capital Fund are significantly lower than any recent estimate of the actual capital needs; without meaningful investments, the nation's vital public housing stock will continue to fall into disrepair. NLIHC urges Congress to take action to address these needs and ensure safety and stability for the 1.6 million people who call public housing home.