Learn NYC property · Rent regulation and tenant protection

HUD-assisted housing: project-based Section 8, Section 202 and 811 contracts

HUD rental assistance contracts on NYC buildings: project-based Section 8, Section 202 and 811, how tenants' rent works, what happens when a contract expires, and opt-outs.

A HUD-assisted building is a privately owned apartment building whose owner has a contract with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): HUD pays part of each assisted tenant's rent, and in return the owner rents to low-income households and follows HUD's rules. The best-known kind is project-based Section 8; others house older adults (Section 202) and people with disabilities (Section 811).

For a tenant, the contract is what keeps the rent affordable — usually about 30% of income. For an owner, it is a large share of the building's income and a set of obligations. And for a buyer or a lender, its expiration date matters: when a contract ends the owner decides whether to renew, and that decision shapes the building's future.

How the contract works

Under a HAP contract — housing assistance payments — HUD, or an agency acting for it, pays the owner the difference between the apartment's approved contract rent and what the tenant pays. The help belongs to the apartment, not the family: when a tenant moves out, the next eligible tenant gets it. That is the difference from a Housing Choice Voucher, which a family carries to any private apartment that accepts it.

The tenant's share, the total tenant payment, is set by federal rule: the highest of 30% of the household's monthly adjusted income, 10% of its gross income, a welfare housing allowance where one applies, or a minimum rent. In New York State, HUD's contract administrator for most project-based contracts is the State's Housing Trust Fund Corporation.

The programs

Project-based Section 8 — rental assistance attached to a building, under several sub-programs with their own federal rules: New Construction and Substantial Rehabilitation for buildings built or rebuilt with the help; buildings developed through State housing agencies; the Loan Management Set-Aside, which added Section 8 to troubled HUD-insured buildings to prevent mortgage defaults; and Property Disposition, attached when HUD sells a building it owns.
Section 202 and Section 811 — HUD money to build and subsidize housing for low-income adults 62 or older (202) and for adults with disabilities (811). Older 202 buildings carry Section 8 on top.
A PRAC, a project rental assistance contract, is how newer 202 and 811 buildings are subsidized: HUD pays the difference between the tenant's payment and the building's HUD-approved operating cost, rather than up to a set rent.
RAD, the Rental Assistance Demonstration, converts older forms of help — among them some PRACs, rent supplement and moderate rehabilitation contracts — to long-term Section 8 contracts.

Mitchell-Lama, the State and City middle-income program, is separate: it rests on low-interest mortgages and tax exemptions, not HUD rental assistance.

How many in New York City

HUD's own file of assisted properties, dated October 6, 2026, lists 557 properties with 70,219 assisted apartments in the five boroughs' counties, under 603 contracts. The map layer BlockLot reads is built from the same database but covers December 2025, so BlockLot's figures below are a few months behind HUD's file.

By BlockLot Intelligence's count of that layer, 585 properties in the five boroughs hold 71,381 assisted apartments, 48,137 of them under project-based Section 8:

HUD-assisted properties in New York City, by program

Properties in HUD's map layer of assisted multifamily properties (coverage December 2025) with a five-borough ZIP code, by their main program. BlockLot Intelligence, computed October 11, 2026.

When a contract ends

A contract has a term — most New York City contracts in HUD's file run 20 years — and its expiration date is a decision point, not necessarily an ending. HUD offers owners six renewal options: raising rents to the market (Mark-Up-to-Market, 5 to 20 years), renewing at or below market (1 to 20 years), cutting rents to the market and restructuring an FHA-insured mortgage (Mark-to-Market, 20 years), options for special kinds of buildings, and opting out. A renewed contract's rents rise each year by an operating-cost factor HUD publishes every October, and are compared with the market again at set anniversaries.

The year before a HUD contract expires.

An owner who will not renew must give every tenant and HUD one year's written notice — delivered to each apartment or mailed, not taped to doors, and translated where needed — and must tell HUD its choice at least 120 days before the contract ends. If the notice is late or defective, tenants' share of the rent cannot rise until a proper year has passed. State and local law can also limit opt-outs.

When an owner opts out, HUD makes enhanced vouchers available, subject to funding, to eligible low-income tenants living in the assisted apartments on the expiration date. An enhanced voucher pays up to the building's actual rent, if the local housing agency finds it reasonable, so the tenant can stay; the tenant keeps paying at least what they paid before unless their income falls by 15% or more, and may stay while the building remains a rental, absent good cause for eviction. A family that moves gets a regular voucher instead.

By BlockLot Intelligence's count of HUD's layer, 199 New York City properties — 36.7% of those with a future date — have a contract listed as expiring by the end of 2030:

HUD-assisted properties in NYC, by the year a contract next expires

Each property once, by the earliest expiry date among its contracts in HUD's map layer (coverage December 2025). Properties whose listed date has already passed — usually a renewal the layer does not yet show — are left out. BlockLot Intelligence, computed October 11, 2026.

Management and inspections

An owner may manage a HUD building itself or hire a management agent, but HUD must approve the agent first, through a management certification (HUD form 9839), and the owner stays responsible to HUD for the building. HUD inspects assisted buildings under its NSPIRE standards, which replaced the older REAC inspections for multifamily buildings on October 1, 2023. Residents can report management problems to HUD's multifamily complaint line.

The City's housing agency, HPD, offers HUD-assisted owners tax exemptions and low-interest loans to preserve their buildings, on conditions that include extending the HAP contract for the longest term possible and keeping every apartment rent-stabilized.

A worked example

Lands End II, which HUD lists at 275 Cherry Street in Manhattan, is owned by a housing development fund company. In HUD's layer it is a Section 8 New Construction property under one contract.

By BlockLot Intelligence's reading of HUD's layer, 489 of its 490 apartments are assisted, under 1 contract listed as expiring on September 30, 2029. The City's stabilization fee shows 490 of its apartments registered as rent-stabilized as well — a building can be under both regimes at once. About a year before that date, its owner must tell the tenants and HUD whether it will renew.

Where you see this in BlockLot

A building with a HUD contract shows a note at the top of its page with the contract's expiration date and the management contact from HUD's file, which the Contacts card repeats as HUD management. The distress score counts a contract nearing its end as one of its signals — HUD contract expiry in the score's breakdown, with the date.

A HUD contract's expiration, counted in a building's distress score.
The contract's end date

Questions people ask

What happens when a Section 8 contract expires? The owner either renews it with HUD, usually for 1 to 20 years under one of HUD's renewal options, or opts out. Most New York City contracts in HUD's file run 20 years, so an expiration date is often a renewal checkpoint rather than an ending.

Can my landlord leave Section 8? Yes, at the end of the contract, unless an agreement requires renewal. The owner must give tenants and HUD a full year's written notice, and eligible tenants are offered enhanced vouchers so they can stay.

What is an enhanced voucher? A voucher HUD offers eligible tenants when an owner opts out. It pays up to the building's actual, reasonable rent so the tenant can stay, and the tenant keeps paying at least what they paid before unless their income falls by 15% or more.

How do I know if my building is HUD-assisted? HUD publishes a property-by-property file of its assisted buildings, updated monthly, with each contract's program and expiration date. A building's page in BlockLot shows the contract when HUD's map layer lists one.

Is project-based Section 8 the same as a Housing Choice Voucher? No. Project-based help is tied to the apartment by a contract between HUD and the owner and stays with the building; a voucher belongs to the family and moves with it. In both, the tenant usually pays about 30% of adjusted income.

Who manages and inspects a HUD building? The owner or a management agent HUD has approved; the owner remains responsible. HUD inspects the buildings under its NSPIRE standards.

Rent stabilization in New York City — NYC rent stabilization explained: which buildings, the Rent Guidelines Board's 2026 freeze, leases and renewals, the 2019 HSTPA, deregulation history, and how to check an apartment.
Good Cause Eviction: what New York's 2024 law covers in NYC — New York's Good Cause Eviction Law in NYC: which apartments it covers, the exemptions, the grounds for eviction, the 8.38% rent test for 2026 and the required notice.
Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) — What New York City's housing agency does — enforcing the Housing Maintenance Code, financing affordable homes, running the lotteries and Section 8 — and how every rental building must register with HPD each year, naming its owner and a managing agent.
BlockLot's distress score: what it measures — How BlockLot's distress score turns violations, court cases, vacate orders, liens and unpaid charges into one number from 0 to 100, and what it is not.

Sources

By BlockLot. Reviewed October 9, 2026. Figures by BlockLot Intelligence, computed from public data on October 11, 2026. This page explains the rules in general; it is not legal or tax advice. For a decision about a specific property, check the official source or ask a professional. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.