HUD: Public housing in need of $26 billion in major repairs

The nation's public housing needs about $26 billion in repairs, a study from the Housing and Urban Development showed on Friday. 

There are 1.2 million public housing units around the country in need of an estimated $25.6 billion for large-scale repairs, or approximately $23,365 per unit, including plumbing, roof upgrades, accessibility improvements for disabled residents and lead removal, affecting about 2.1 million residents, according to the report. 

“The new capital needs estimate far exceeds our annual budget for these repairs and illustrates why America needs a long-term strategy to address the loss of thousands of public housing units annually,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a statement. “At a time when budget deficits require the federal government to tighten its belt, many of the nation’s public housing units are buckling under a severe backlog in capital needs."

HUD’s study, Capital Needs in the Public Housing Program, kicked off in April 2008 and was designed to provide an update from 1998 estimates on capital needs. 

The study also determined that with normal use and aging, the units accrue an additional $3.4 billion each year in needed repairs and replacements — or roughly $3,155 per unit. These accrual costs exclude routine maintenance costs and are calculated based on the assumption that the backlog is met.

The study also includes the first extensive look at the estimated cost of energy and water conservation projects.

Even though there are other programs designed to help address the problem of severely distressed housing, such as HOPE VI, or initiatives to raise capital for major improvements to public housing, several thousand units are still lost each year, the report found. 

While $4 billion in economic stimulus funding helped pay for renovations of nearly 380,000 publicly owned affordable homes, "the need for a solution to preserve the housing stock remains great," the report said. 

According to HUD’s analysis, a simple comparison of 1998 and 2010 data reveals the estimated total backlog of capital need decreased by about 3.4 percent over 12 years. Part of this decrease includes a 9 percent decline in public housing units in 2010 and an increase in average per-unit repair cost. 

The new study estimated that annual accrual needs climbed by 15 percent from 1998, due in part to lagging repairs to major systems.

HUD has proposed a number of new initiatives to address this backlog, including Choice Neighborhoods and the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). 

Choice Neighborhoods provides grant funding to demolish and redevelop public and assisted housing, while RAD seeks to address the backlog and future need in the entire public housing stock by allowing private investment in the stock, according to the report.