Keeping the authority public : public housing preservation and organizational restructuring with the Rental Assistance Demonstration
Name
959709773-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
5.73 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
006f22b8c3dde7da0c0e6e072b4afda0
Author(s)
Silberblatt, Gabriel Perri
Advisor(s)
Justin Steil.
Alternative Title
Public housing preservation and organizational restructuring with the RAD
Date Issued
2016
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The Rental Assistance Demonstration ("RAD") program is a controversial federal effort to address public housing's financial crisis by opening it up to private investment and recapitalization; in essence, to mortgage public housing in order to save it. While some high profile examples of RAD's implementation have confirmed critics' fears about the loss of public control over a critical social safety net, other public housing authorities ("PHAs") have begun to use the program to empower themselves and ensure the financial stability and health of their entire portfolios. Since the program's pilot period began in 2012 at least three typologies of RAD implementation have emerged, each with their own unique outcomes and impact on PHA operation. This thesis investigates the organizational implications for the most challenging of these approaches, the "All-In" strategy, in which PHAs comprehensively address the capital needs of their entire portfolio while retaining the maximum degree of control over the process through in-house development. While RAD's use of private financing strategies is not new to public housing, the pressure on "All-In" PHAs to structurally internalize some private-sector models is a significant development for the organization and management of public housing. Case studies from Cambridge, MA and Tacoma, WA offer evidence of the unique challenges, emergent adaptations, and strategic opportunities for two "All-In" RAD agencies. The thesis describes the pressure on these PHAs to shift from a functional and hierarchical bureaucratic model to a flatter, more decentralized organizational structure and discusses some managerial strategies and tools public sector managers can use to navigate this transformation.
Description
Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 68-72).
Subjects
Urban Studies and Planning.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
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