Econometrica served as the prime contractor for an evaluation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) program, Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Choice Mobility, with support from the Urban Institute as a subcontractor. The RAD program enables public housing authorities (PHAs) to convert their public housing units into Section 8 housing with the goal of improving the physical condition and financial viability of converted properties while providing tenants with the opportunity to choose other affordable housing options. The evaluation focused on the impact RAD has had on tenants’ use of choice mobility, the long-term financial preservation of converted projects, and the oversight and management of those projects. It also examined the impact of RAD on other tenant outcomes and on organizational changes made by PHAs. The RAD Choice Mobility evaluation built on the previous RAD evaluation conducted by Econometrica, which examined whether RAD had improved projects’ physical condition and enabled them to cover their long-term capital needs.

The RAD Choice Mobility study has produced four reports to date, and a fifth report is forthcoming.

• One report evaluates the implementation of the RAD Choice Mobility option on property outcomes, tenant outcomes, and the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The Econometrica Team reviewed HUD administrative data and census data; conducted virtual site visits; interviewed PHA staff; conducted qualitative interviews with residents; and conducted a web-based survey of a census of RAD PHAs, third party owner-operators of RAD projects, a sample of residents who exercised the Choice Mobility option, and a sample of residents who did not exercise the Choice Mobility option. This study covered the census of public housing projects that converted either to project-based rental assistance (PBRA) or project-based vouchers (PBV) contracts.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-1/

• Another report evaluates PHAs’ approaches to asset management under RAD using a mixed approach to data collection and analysis. These methods evaluated how RAD assets were being used by PHAs compared to the standard model of asset management. This process identified gaps between PHAs’ approaches to asset management for RAD conversions and the standard model of asset management for affordable housing. The Econometrica Team collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data to conduct this assessment.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-2/

• The third report is a qualitative study of PHAs’ organizational changes in response to RAD conversions. It entailed in-depth interviewing of a small sample of PHAs about their changes in staffing, organization, data systems, budgeting, and reporting after they had completed RAD conversions of their public housing portfolio.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-3/

• The fourth report is a quantitative study of other resident outcomes due to RAD. It analyzes HUD administrative data for the universe of RAD conversions to assess the impact of RAD on the affordability of converted housing, as measured by changes in rents before and after conversion under RAD.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-4/

A fifth report that has not yet been released examines the long-term preservation and financial viability of RAD properties by reviewing project financial statements to construct key financial performance measures and HUD data to measure physical condition for the population of RAD conversions, the population of non-RAD PBRA projects, and a matched sample of non-RAD public housing projects. Econometrica collected and analyzed responses to a web-based survey from the census of RAD PHAs and third-party owner-operators of RAD properties about the financial performance of their properties. The web-based survey also enabled researchers to collect additional financial statements from RAD conversion that do not report financial data to HUD, such as PBV conversions.

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