“Estimating the Cost to Preserve the Nation’s Public Housing” Interim Report Released

In October 2025, the 10 Year Roadmap for Public Housing Sustainability released an interim report titled “Estimating the Cost to Preserve the Nation’s Public Housing.” The Roadmap, convened by the Council for Large Public Housing Authorities, consists of experts and stakeholders. Former NAHRO President George Guy served on the Steering Committee and NAHRO’s Policy & Legislative Affairs Director, Eric Oberdorfer, served on the Capital Needs Working Group.

In the report, the Roadmap estimates a baseline cost of $188,090 per unit or $169.1 billion nationwide to preserve the nation’s public housing portfolio. The Roadmap contends that “considering existing needs and future annual accrual costs,” a ten-year plan to preserve the nation’s public housing stock could cost around $183.7 billion. This plan works off the assumption that 89,905 public housing units would be preserved.

The Roadmap also found that lower inspection scores and occupancy rates for public housing properties two years prior to being converted through the Rental Assistance Demonstration program (RAD) were associated with higher hard construction costs. Building age was the largest driver of these costs for public housing properties undergoing RAD conversion. The estimated preservation costs for public housing units vary greatly with 25% of units having predicted baseline preservation costs of less than $87,701 each and 25% of units having predicted baseline costs of greater than $273,466 each. The report emphasizes that the preservation cost estimates in the report are not a substitute for an inspection-based capital needs assessment.  The report concludes by discussing the opportunity to leverage LIHTC expansion for public housing preservation.