Identifies the costs of the current Program for projects in the processing pipeline, assessing the impact of Preservation on tenants, and evaluating alternatives to the current Preservation Program. It was part of a nationwide cooperative effort on the part of the HUD program staff, the Office of Inspector General, tenants, and housing interest groups to identify possible solutions to a flawed program. The study included input from HUD program staff, IG staff, owners of HUD-insured projects and tenant groups. It also drew upon previous audit reports, as well as studies and published by organizations within the housing industry.
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the distribution and funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) multifamily housing preservation program. GAO found that: (1) by 2021, 3,555 project owners will be eligible to participate in the preservation incentive program; (2) 95 percent of all low-income units will be eligible for prepayment by fiscal year 1997; (3) although eligible projects are distributed throughout every state, 10 states have over 53 percent of the eligible housing units, California has 11 percent of the nationwide total, and 59 cities contain about 35 percent of the units eligible for preservation; (4) the three cities with the largest percentage of eligible housing units are Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas; (5) of the 781 project owners who have already filed notices with HUD to participate in the preservation program, 132 have been approved and most indicated that they would retain their projects and extend the use restrictions preserving the projects for lower-income households or sell their projects to a qualified purchaser; (6) HUD required an average of 17 months to process and approve project owners' participation requests; (7) HUD reserved about $432 million for preserving the 132 approved projects; (8) between 1991 and 1993, Congress appropriated approximately $1.1 billion for housing preservation; and (9) by the end of 1993, over $540 million in appropriations remained unreserved.
GAO discussed issues and options to consider in revising the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Low-Income Housing Preservation Program. GAO noted that: (1) the current preservation program restricts owners' unlimited right to prepay mortgages but provides them with various financial incentives, such as increases in federal rental assistance and financing of capital improvements, to continue the affordability restrictions for their properties; (2) the owners of 1,122 projects eligible to participate in the preservation program have filed notices of intent to extend affordability restrictions or to sell their properties to qualified purchasers; and (3) there are concerns about the size of the incentives provided to project owners and the funding of these incentives through increased federal rental assistance. In addition, GAO noted that HUD has proposed to replace its current program with an approach that restores the owners' right to prepay: (1) mortgages and use capital improvement grants in lieu of federal rental assistance payments; (2) and repeal the preservation incentives; and (3) and continue preservation incentives, albeit on a more targeted basis and at a reduced level.
Discusses the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD's) multifamily housing stock that is eligible for incentives which are offered to preserve this housing for lower-income households. This report details the characteristics of these projects, such as their number and location, and also identifies separately those projects whose owners have filed for incentives. 20 charts and tables.