An Investigation into the Mismanagement of Project‑Based Section 8 Rental Assistance (PBRA) Buildings

  • May 31, 2026
    • Research

After hearing repeated complaints from tenants in Project-Based Section 8 Rental Assistance (PBRA) housing, Legal Services NYC verified a troubling pattern of rent miscalculations, unsafe conditions, and negligent landlords. In response, LSNYC formed a PBRA Working Group that obtained and analyzed previously unreleased government audits evaluating private property managers responsible for administering PBRA housing across New York City.

The audits confirmed what tenants have long experienced: widespread failures by private property managers in areas that directly affect housing stability and quality of life, including rent calculations, compliance with program requirements, and tenants’ due process rights. Despite these failures, many property managers continue to receive passing scores through HUD’s oversight system and subsequently, millions in PBRA rental subsidies.

This page highlights the Working Group’s investigation and advocacy efforts and provides resources for tenants, advocates, and policymakers, including original audit files, an interactive map, audit findings, and other materials documenting the scope and impact of PBRA mismanagement in New York City.

Table of Contents

What is Project-Based Section 8 Rental Assistance (PBRA)?

Project-Based Section 8 Rental Assistance (PBRA) is a federally funded program that helps preserve affordable housing for low-income families. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides private owners of multifamily housing developments with rental assistance contracts, subsidized mortgages, or both, in exchange for maintaining affordable units.

Under the program, tenants generally pay 30% of their household income toward rent, while the PBRA subsidy covers the difference between that amount and the approved rent. Unlike the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, PBRA assistance is tied to a specific housing unit and does not move with the tenant.

PBRA serves more than 2 million people nationwide, including nearly 150,000 tenants in New York City.

The Problem with the Private Management of PBRA Buildings

Unlike other public housing programs, PBRA housing is privately owned and managed. HUD contracts directly with private owners, who are responsible for calculating tenants’ income, setting rents, processing reasonable accommodation requests, approving emergency transfers, and making decisions about evictions and subsidy terminations. For that reason, property owners have enormous power over tenants.

However, for more than 40 years, PBRA tenants have struggled to enforce the program’s protections and hold private managers and landlords accountable.

  • Private property owners face little accountability for failing to maintain buildings or properly administer subsidies, and tenants have no formal internal grievance process to challenge an owner’s actions or decisions.
  • Oversight is repeatedly subcontracted. In New York, HUD delegates administration to the state’s Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC), which in turn contracts oversight responsibilities to CGI Federal Inc. CGI audits property managers and serves as an intermediary between tenants and owners through its Contact Center.
  • Poor audit results often carry few consequences. As LSNYC’s investigation has found, owners who fail key compliance measures continue receiving full PBRA subsidies, while tenants bear the consequences—including the risk of eviction.

LSNYC’s Investigation Finds Private Property Managers Routinely Fail PBRA Tenants

Legal Services NYC submitted Freedom of Information Act requests for CGI’s audit data from 2015 to 2022 and analyzed nearly 1,400 audits spanning 421 New York City developments. We found:

  • Nearly 94% of buildings failed the category with the most impact on tenants—the “Tenant File Review” which involves the calculation of rent and management of the subsidy. Tenants with miscalculated rent or misinformation about what is owed are sent careering towards eviction.
  • Most PBRA developments were rated ‘Satisfactory’ or passing scores—even as they failed in core areas like rent calculation, subsidy recertifications, and respecting due process—areas critical to whether a tenant can remain in their home. In fact, additional data shows PBRA landlords filed more than 34,000 eviction cases in NYC since 2016, the majority for nonpayment likely stemming from subsidy errors and paperwork failures by the owners..
  • Although property owners are responsible for processing subsidy paperwork, tenants report unanswered emails, closed office doors, and chronic lack of communication, leading to things like  subsidies terminations and retroactive rent increases without the tenant even knowing.
  • Additional analysis of city records show that nearly one in four properties has been cited for hazardous or life-threatening conditions for open housing code violations like mold, leaks, and broken elevators. 

Read more about LSNYC’s analysis here. 

Download the raw audit files here.

Look Up Your Building’s CGI Audit

Tenants who live in PBRA buildings in NYC can view their buildings audits on an interactive map to learn abotuj their landlords or property managers past performance by searching your property manager’s name in the database or finding their buildings on the map. Tenants can share audits with tenants and tenant associations to demand better conditions. Advocates and tenant organizers can use this data to identify patterns of misconduct that may span across common owners or property managers, which can support or direct future legal and organizing strategies.

Look Up Your Building's Audit

Press & Advocacy on PBRA

Read the latest press and advocacy efforts that detail the scope and impact of mismanagement of PBRA buildings:

PBRA Know Your Rights Resources

  • Free Legal Help: If you are experiencing issues in your PBRA building, contact us at 917-661-4500 or at [PBRA email address]
  • PBRA FAQs: Read more about your Tenant Rights at DHCR’s Tenant Knowledge Center here.
  • Recertification Checklist (PDF) Is this something that exists?

About the PBRA Working Group

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