Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA)

How It Works

Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) is rental help attached to particular privately owned apartment buildings. It is the “project-based” half of Section 8; the other half is the portable Housing Choice Voucher Program.

Every PBRA property has a Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract between the owner and HUD. The contract sets an approved rent for each assisted unit. The tenant generally pays 30% of adjusted income toward rent and utilities, and HUD pays the owner the rest each month. Moderate Rehabilitation contracts, a smaller older variant, run through a local public housing agency instead of directly with HUD.

Since 1999, HUD has used third-party contract administrators to handle much of the day-to-day work, such as management reviews, rent adjustments and monthly payments.

Contracts have fixed terms. Under the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997, HUD must offer renewal when an owner chooses to renew, subject to annual appropriations. Renewals are commonly for one, five or 20 years. Congress funds them 12 months at a time.

Who It Serves

PBRA units are for low-income households, at or below 80% of area median income, when they move in. Most go to very low-income households, at or below 50% of AMI: federal law caps the share of units that can be leased to households above that level at 25% for units that first became available before October 1, 1981 and 15% for units that became available later. The law also reserves at least 40% of the assisted units that become available in a property each year for extremely low-income households.

NLIHC’s 2025 guide reports that PBRA assists about 1.3 million households with more than 2 million people. In 2023, about 60% of assisted households were headed by, or had a spouse who was, 62 or older. The average household income was $15,455.

How to Access It

There is no central application. Renters apply to the management office of each PBRA property and are placed on that property’s waiting list. The owner selects tenants under a written tenant selection plan, may apply admission preferences that HUD rules allow, and may not skip down the list to pick a higher-income household. Some PBRA buildings are reserved for older adults or people with disabilities, so check each property’s eligibility rules.

Because the subsidy belongs to the unit, a household that moves out loses its assistance unless it obtains help elsewhere, such as a voucher.

History

The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 created Section 8 with new construction, substantial rehabilitation and existing housing components. Instead of subsidizing a mortgage, HUD offered owners a long-term rent subsidy. That steady income stream helped developers borrow, and NLIHC reports that more than 800,000 units were developed from 1974 to 1983.

By the early 1980s, critics said the approach was costly and concentrated poor households. Congress stopped funding new project-based contracts in 1983 and shifted toward vouchers. Some older public housing has since been moved onto PBRA contracts through the Rental Assistance Demonstration.

Limitations

• Expiring contracts. When a contract ends, an owner may opt out and convert to market-rate rents or other uses. Owners must give tenants at least one year’s notice. Eligible tenants usually receive enhanced vouchers, which let them stay in place even if the new rent exceeds the normal payment standard.
• Rent-setting tensions. Some contract rents were above market and others below. HUD’s Mark-to-Market program restructures debt where rents must fall to market, and Mark-Up-to-Market can raise below-market rents to keep owners in the program.
• Aging buildings. Much of the stock is decades old and needs capital repairs, which makes preservation financing a recurring issue.
• Pending rule. A HUD rule proposed in March 2026 would let PBRA owners require work-eligible adults to work up to 40 hours a week and set time limits of two years or more for families that are not elderly or disabled. As of October 1, 2026, it had not been finalized.

See Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing and Preservation for how communities keep existing affordable homes affordable.