Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report on January 27, The Tenant Never Wins: Private Takeover of Public Housing Puts Rights at Risk in New York City. The report describes the adverse impacts of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which relies on the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). NLIHC and the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) issued a media statement applauding HRW’s report and supporting its calls to Congress to provide significantly more funding for public housing and to HUD to dramatically improve its oversight of RAD.
Overview of HRW Report
Under PACT, NYCHA leases its public housing developments to private companies for 99 years and relies on private companies for ongoing building management. HRW found that PACT conversions result in the loss of key protections for residents, and in two developments, may have contributed to increased evictions.
HRW carried out an in-depth analysis of dozens of legal and other documents. The organization also interviewed 17 people across five public housing developments converted to private management under PACT, 10 residents of NYCHA-managed housing, lawyers, housing policy experts, and members of civil society and community organizations. In interviews, some PACT residents described continuing struggles to arrange for the repair of their apartments and observed that they felt as though they had no choice but to accept PACT management.
HRW’s review of eviction data provided by NYCHA found that out of six PACT developments converted before 2020, evictions increased in two large PACT conversions that together house 6,500 people. One of the developments had an eviction rate more than three times higher than NYCHA’s average rate between 2017 and 2019. In the report, HRW urges New York City and New York State to update eviction laws to conform with international human rights standards, which prohibit evictions that place tenants at risk of homelessness.
HRW suggests that NYCHA should improve the oversight and accountability of PACT, including by creating an independent entity to oversee PACT developments. HRW also argues that Congress should fully fund public housing to ensure its maintenance and that HUD should improve RAD oversight and release data on evictions and housing conditions in RAD developments.
NLIHC and NHLP Media Statement
While NLIHC and NHLP support the repair and preservation of public housing – the stated goal of RAD – both organizations remain troubled that RAD has grown almost exponentially (from 60,000 to 455,000 units) since it was first authorized by Congress and without any meaningful evaluation of its impacts on public housing residents.
NLIHC and NHLP issued a media statement commending HRW’s report for highlighting the challenges faced by tenants before, during, and after a RAD conversion. While every RAD conversion is unique, the challenges highlighted in the report are not limited to NYCHA. Instead, they reflect problems facing RAD tenants across the country and are in part a result of limited HUD oversight.
For example, HRW’s report reveals the lack of data available to tenants and advocates regarding key tenants’ rights issues such as eviction rates, access to choice mobility vouchers, and tenant relocation information. In addition, NYCHA tenants discuss their frustration, common among tenants, over the lack of transparency related to RAD deals and documents such as civil rights reviews and relocation plans. The report also echoes the concerns of NLIHC and NHLP about diminished tenants’ rights post-conversion and issues related to ongoing physical conditions.
In the media statement, NLIHC and NHLP called upon HUD to provide more meaningful oversight of RAD by:
- collecting and publishing additional data related to RAD’s impact on tenants;
- requiring public housing agencies and private developers to make available all documents related to RAD transactions;
- requiring more robust, genuine tenant engagement in all RAD plans and ongoing actions; and
- creating model forms, such as RAD leases, that carry over tenants’ rights in public housing programs to RAD tenants following a conversion.
RAD is not a substitute for adequately funding public housing to compensate for decades of underfunding. At the same time, RAD must be adequately monitored and evaluated before any further expansion occurs. HUD should take a more proactive role in enforcing tenants’ rights and preventing the loss of affordable housing.
Read the HRW report at: https://bit.ly/3oiavkf
Read the NLIHC/NHLP media statement at: https://bit.ly/3KXqqy2
Find more information about RAD on NLIHC’s public housing webpage and on page 4-40 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.
Find more information about RAD from NHLP at: https://bit.ly/3ujEvAb
Explore HUD’s RAD website at: https://www.hud.gov/RAD