Justia Regulation Tracker

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[Federal Register: October 23, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 206)]
[Notices]               
[Page 63188-63190]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23oc08-88]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5130-N-34]

 
Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of Matching Program Between the 
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the 
United States Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service (RHS)

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a Computer Matching Program between HUD and the 
Department of Agriculture RHS.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act 
of 1988, as amended, and the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
Guidance on the statute, HUD is announcing a new matching program 
involving comparisons between data provided by participants in HUD's 
assisted housing programs and applicants for RHS's rural housing 
programs. The matching program will be carried out to identify 
individuals who are receiving excess or duplicate housing assistance as 
a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
    The matching program will be accomplished by comparing information 
from HUD's systems of records known as (1) the Tenant Housing 
Assistance and Contract Verification Data (HUD/H-11 and (2) the 
Inventory Management System, previously the Public and Indian Housing 
Information Center (HUD/PIH-4), with disaster emergency assistance data 
maintained by RHS

[[Page 63189]]

Multifamily Programs (MFH) in its system of records known as the 
Multifamily Information System (MFIS), and Single Family Housing 
Programs (SFH) in its Dedicated Loan Origination and Servicing System 
(DLOS) MortgageServ and Unifi record systems for direct loans and 
grants, and the Guaranteed Loan System (GLS) for guaranteed loans to 
identify participants who are receiving access to duplicate disaster 
assistance payments.

DATES: Effective Date: Computer matching is expected to begin November 
24, 2008, unless comments are received which will result in a contrary 
determination, or 40 days after copies of the underlying matching 
agreement are signed, approved by HUD and RHS Data Integrity Boards, 
and sent to both Houses of Congress, whichever is later.
    Comments Due Date: November 24, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Room 
10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should refer to the 
above docket number and title. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not 
acceptable. A copy of each communication submitted will be available 
for public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at 
the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For the Privacy Act contact Donna 
Robinson-Staton, Departmental Privacy Act Officer, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 2256, 
Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 402-8073. A 
telecommunications device for hearing-and-speech impaired individuals 
(TTY) is available at 1-800-877-8339 (Federal Information Relay 
Service).
    For further information from recipient agency: Bryan Saddler, 
Counsel to the Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 8260, Washington, DC 20410, 
(202) 708-1613.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection 
Act (CMPPA) of 1988, an amendment to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 
552a), OMB's guidance on this statute entitled ``Final Guidance 
Interpreting the Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the CMPPA of 1988'' 
(OMB Guidance), and OMB Circular No. A-130 requires publication of 
notices of computer matching programs. Appendix I to OMB's Revision of 
Circular No. A-130, ``Transmittal Memorandum No. 4, Management of 
Federal Information Resources,'' prescribes Federal agency 
responsibilities for maintaining records about individuals. In 
compliance with the CMPPA and Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A-130, 
copies of this notice are being provided to the Committee on Government 
Reform of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and OMB's Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs.

I. Authority

    This matching program is being conducted pursuant to the Emergency 
Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico 
and Pandemic Influenza, 2006 (Pub. L. 109-148); section 904 of the 
Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1988 (42 
U.S.C. 3544); section 165 of the Housing and Community Development Act 
of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 3543); the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1701-
1750g); the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437-1437z); 
section 101 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1965 (12 
U.S.C. 1701s); the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.); the Quality Housing 
and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(f)); the Inspector 
General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App. 3); Computer Matching and Privacy 
Protection Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-53); and 65 FR 24732 and 64 FR 
54930.
    Chapter 9, Title I, of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to 
Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and Pandemic Influenza, 
requires HUD to provide Tenant-Based Rental Assistance only to tenants 
who received housing assistance prior to the hurricanes and to ``those 
which were homeless or in emergency shelters in the declared disaster 
area prior to Hurricanes Katrina or Rita.'' It also requires, with 
respect to Community Development Fund assistance, that HUD establish 
procedures to prevent recipients from receiving any duplication of 
benefits.
    The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1988 
authorizes HUD and housing agencies (HAs) (but not private owners/
management agents for subsidized multifamily projects) to request wage 
and claim information from State Wage Information Collection Agencies 
(SWICAs) responsible for administering State unemployment laws in order 
to undertake computer matching of individual's income and eligibility 
for HUD housing assistance. This Act authorizes HUD to require 
applicants and participants to sign a consent form authorizing HUD or 
the HA to request wage and claim information from the SWICAs.
    The Inspector General Act authorizes the HUD Inspector General to 
undertake programs to detect and prevent fraud and abuse in all HUD 
programs.
    RHS, pursuant to section 312 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act) 42 U.S.C. 5155, 
Public Law 93-288, as amended, and 7 CFR part 1951, subpart O, must 
assure that no person receiving disaster assistance receives 
unauthorized assistance.

II. Objective To Be Met by the Matching Program

    HUD's primary objectives in implementing the computer matching 
program are: (a) To identify individuals who are receiving housing 
benefits in excess of those to which they are entitled; and (b) to 
identify duplicate disaster assistance payments. HUD's Office of 
General Counsel (OGC) will compare the identity, reported income, 
family size, address and benefit data of Rural Development's emergency 
Rental Assistance program contained in MFIS. The comparisons will 
identify, based on criteria established by HUD-OIG, individuals whose 
incomes, family size, address, or benefit levels require further 
verification to determine if they received appropriate levels of 
Federal assistance.
    Similarly, HUD-OIG will compare benefit data of Rural Development's 
section 502 loan and section 504 loan and grant Natural Disaster/
Hurricane programs contained in DLOS and GLS.
    Any match (i.e., a ``hit'') will be further reviewed by the HUD-OIG 
to determine whether the recipient was eligible to receive the 
assistance. Hits shall also be provided to, and further reviewed by, 
RHA and USDA-OIG to determine whether duplicate assistance was 
provided.

III. Program Description

    In this matching program, tenant-provided information included in 
HUD's systems of records known as the Tenant Housing Assistance and 
Contract Verification Data (HUD/H-11), last published at 62 FR 11909 
(March 13, 1997), and (2) the Inventory Management System, previously 
the Public and Indian Housing Information Center (HUD/PIH-4), published 
in the Federal Register on October 7, 2002, will be compared with RHS's 
MFIS, DLOS, and GLS ``Disaster Assistance'' system of records. RHS will 
provide

[[Page 63190]]

HUD with records from the MFIS, DLOS, and GLS systems that identify 
recipients of emergency Rental Assistance and Natural Disaster/
Hurricane housing loans and grants and loan guarantees. The notice for 
this system is contained in the System of Records titled ``USDA/Rural 
Development'', last published in 63 FR 38546 (July 17, 1998), and the 
disclosure will be made in accordance with routine use ``15,'' which 
permits disclosure to another Federal agency ``for the purpose of 
determining compliance with Federal regulations and appropriate 
servicing actions against those not entitled to program benefits, 
including possible recovery of improper benefits.'' The comparisons 
will identify, based on criteria established by HUD-OIG, individuals 
whose incomes, family size, address, or benefit levels require further 
verification to determine if they received appropriate levels of 
Federal assistance.

A. Income Verification Procedures

    Any match (i.e., a ``hit'') will be further reviewed by the HUD-OIG 
to determine whether the recipient was eligible to receive the 
assistance. Hits shall also be provided to, and further reviewed by, 
RHA and USDA-OIG to determine whether duplicate assistance was 
provided.
    In order to protect any individuals whose records are used in 
matching, the HA or subsidized multifamily project owner or management 
agent will not suspend, terminate, reduce, or make a final denial of 
any housing assistance to such individual, or take other adverse action 
against such individual as a result of information produced by such 
matching program, until an officer or employee of such agency has 
independently verified such information. This independent verification 
includes: (1) Comparing automated tenant data with manual files to 
verify tenant identity, family composition and reported income; (2) 
verifying the tenants' income by sending HUD prepared income 
confirmations to employers for cases where records indicate unreported 
or under-reported income; (3) analyzing the confirmed information; (4) 
calculating the unreported income and excessive housing assistance 
received by the family; (5) determining whether the individual actually 
has or had access to such income for the individual's own use; and (6) 
determining the period or periods when the individual actually had such 
income.

B. Administrative or Legal Actions

    HUD-OIG shall also provide reports to RHS and/or USDA-OIG for 
reasons of information verification concerning excess and/or duplicate 
housing assistance payments. Upon completion of the verification 
procedures, cases may be referred to Federal, state or local law 
enforcement authorities (including HUD-OIG and USDA-OIG) for 
consideration of criminal or civil prosecution. Cases that are not 
referred for--or after referral are rejected for--criminal or civil 
prosecution, may be referred to HAs, multifamily project owners or 
management agents to initiate administrative actions according to 
applicable procedures.
    A HA, project owner or management agent may not suspend, terminate, 
reduce, or make a final denial of any housing assistance to any 
individual or take other adverse action against such individual as a 
result of information produced by a matching program: (1) Unless the 
individual has received a statement of the findings, including notice 
to the individual of the opportunity to contest such findings; and (2) 
until the expiration of a 30 calendar-day period from the date of the 
notice in (1).
    If the matching subject responds within the 30 calendar-day notice 
period and indicates acceptance of the validity of the adverse 
information, immediate action to reduce or terminate benefits may be 
taken.

IV. Records To Be Matched

    A description of the tenant records (one record for each family 
member) includes these data elements: (1) SSNs for each family member; 
(2) family control number to identify each tenant with a particular 
family; (3) Head of Household Indicator; (4) Last Name, First Name, 
Middle Initial, and Address for household; (5) Sex; (6) Birth Date; (7) 
Reported Income by source, description and amount; (8) Program Code; 
and (9) Recertification Date.
    DLOS and GLS systems records (one record for each loan/grant) 
includes these data elements: (1) Account number for each loan/grant; 
(2) SSNs for each borrower/co-borrower (Borrower ID--primary/
secondary); (3) Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial, and Property 
Address for loan/grant; (5) Sex; (6) Program Title; (7) Date of the 
Obligation, amount, and unpaid balance; (8) Age of borrower/co-
borrower; (9) Date of Application; (10) Date of Approval; and (11) 
Program Type Code.
    For matched applicants (i.e., ``hits''), HUD-OIG will match the 
following information from MFIS, DLOS and GLS: name(s), address(es), 
social security number(s), assistance date(s), and rental/loan/grant 
assistance amount(s).

V. Period of the Match

    This agreement shall become effective 30 days after publication of 
a computer matching notice in the Federal Register, or 40 days after 
the agreement is signed by both Data Integrity Boards and has been 
transmitted to Congress and the OMB for review, whichever is later. 
This agreement will terminate when the purpose of the computer match is 
accomplished, or 18 months from the date this signed agreement is sent 
to both Houses of Congress and OMB, whichever comes first. Should the 
purpose not be accomplished within 18 months, the agreement may be 
extended for one 12-month period, with the mutual agreement of all 
involved parties, if within three months of the expiration date, the 
respective Data Integrity Boards review the agreement and find that the 
program will be conducted without change, find a continued favorable 
examination of cost/benefit results, and all involved parties certify 
that the program has been conducted in compliance with this agreement. 
This agreement may be terminated, prior to accomplishment of the 
computer matching purpose or 18 months from the date this signed 
agreement is sent to both Houses of Congress and OMB (whichever comes 
first), by the mutual agreement of all involved parties, with 30 days 
written notice.

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1986; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).

    Dated: October 16, 2008.
Lisa Schlosser,
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E8-25267 Filed 10-22-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210-67-P