GUTIERREZ PRAISES HUD RENTAL ASSISTANCE DEMONSTRATION (RAD) AS "INTELLIGENT MOVE" TO HELP WORKING CLASS AND POOR FAMILIES

"This is a step towards stabilization in housing and
I am proud to have been helpful," Gutierrez says

July 26, 2012

Media Contact: Douglas Rivlin (202) 225-8203

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Washington, DC) -- Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began initial implementation of the Obama Administration’s groundbreaking effort to preserve tens of thousands of public and other HUD-assisted housing with the publication of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Final Notice in the Federal Register (See HUD Press Release and www.hud.gov/rad).  Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) is the Ranking Democrat on the Housing, Insurance, and Community Opportunity Subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee and worked with the Subcommittee Chairwoman and others to ensure that this important initiative was included in the FY2012 appropriations bill funding the agency.

According to HUD: RAD allows public housing authorities and owners of at-risk multifamily housing to convert current limited or terminating forms of operating assistance to long-term, Section 8-based subsidy contracts at current costs.  Such contracts will enable owners to leverage millions of dollars in debt and equity investments to preserve this housing over the long term. 

Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez issued the following statement:

Stable housing, stable families, and stable neighborhoods are the foundations of prosperous communities, so this is good news for Chicago and cities and towns across the country.  Homelessness and the threat of homelessness is a fact of life for too many American families and local budgets are strapped. 

This intelligent move by HUD allows local authorities and entities to maintain and preserve housing for working class and poor families in a cost-effective way.

We clearly have a long way to go before our housing markets are back on track across the board, and this instability has filtered down to working class families who may live in public housing or publicly subsidized housing.  This is a step towards stabilization in housing and I am proud to have been helpful.

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