Why provide the option to convert to either project-based vouchers (PBVs) or a new form of project-based contract (PBC) assistance authorized by PETRA?
Our long-term vision entails a gradual movement toward a mixed-income model, in which deeply affordable rental housing is part of the housing market mainstream. This housing is developed, financed, owned, and managed by public housing agencies and private entities that match rental assistance with private capital to produce and preserve housing that’s responsive to local need and that looks and feels much like market-rate housing. The project-based voucher program is an existing tool that helps us to move toward that vision. With a few exceptions for properties serving elderly households and households eligible for social services, the PBV program is now — and should remain — exclusively a mixed-income tool. One of the benefits to HUD — and to owners — of the PBV program is that our oversight can be somewhat less intense, because the presence of market-rate units helps to assure that owners will maintain their properties to an acceptable physical standard and manage efficiently to keep
