The Effects of RAD Conversion on Eviction Patterns

The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program was created in response to the severe backlog of maintenance and repairs in public housing developments across the U.S. The RAD program allows public housing agencies (PHAs) to convert developments from conventional public housing support to project-based Section 8 contracts, which gives more flexibility to leverage sources of both public and private funds for capital needs. Tenants and advocates have raised concerns that RAD conversions may lead to higher rates of eviction. It could also be the case that RAD conversions have no effect on eviction patterns since the program guarantees tenants in converted properties many of the same rights as public housing residents. In this paper, we conduct the first systematic study of whether RAD conversion leads to changes in formal eviction practices. We identified617,900 eviction cases filed between 2010 and 2024 against residents of 4,410 public housing developments across 43 states. During the study period, 812 of these developments (18%) went through RAD conversion. Using a dynamic difference-in-differences estimator that allows us to account for the staggered timing of conversions, we find that RAD conversion is not associated with a statistically significant change in eviction filing or eviction judgment rates.