Additional Waivers Granted to and Alternative Requirements for the State of Mississippi Under Public Laws 109-148 and 109-234, 61788-61789 [E7-21440]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 210 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61788-61789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21440]



[[Page 61787]]

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Part IV





Department of Housing and Urban Development





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Additional Waivers Granted to and Alternative Requirements for the 
State of Mississippi Under Public Laws 109-148 and 109-234; Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 210 / Wednesday, October 31, 2007 / 
Notices

[[Page 61788]]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5051-N-09]


Additional Waivers Granted to and Alternative Requirements for 
the State of Mississippi Under Public Laws 109-148 and 109-234

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of waivers, and alternative requirements.

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SUMMARY: As described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
Notice, HUD is authorized by statute to waive statutory and regulatory 
requirements and specify alternative requirements for these disaster 
recovery grants, upon the request of the state grantee. This Notice 
describes the additional waivers for the disaster recovery grants made 
to the State of Mississippi under the subject appropriations acts.

DATES: Effective Date: November 5, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessie Handforth Kome, Director, 
Disaster Recovery and Special Issues Division, Office of Block Grant 
Assistance, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 
Street, SW., Room 7286, Washington, DC 20410; telephone number (202) 
708-3587. Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this 
number via TTY by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 
(800) 877-8339. FAX inquiries may be sent to Ms. Kome at (202) 401-
2044. (Except for the ``800'' number, these telephone numbers are not 
toll-free.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Authority To Grant Waivers

    The first Federal Fiscal Year 2006 supplemental appropriation for 
the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program was the Department 
of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes 
in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006 (Pub. L. 109-
148, approved December 30, 2005). The second 2006 supplemental 
appropriation was Chapter 9 of Title II of the Emergency Supplemental 
Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Hurricane 
Recovery, 2006 (Pub. L. 109-234, approved June 15, 2006), which 
appropriates $5.2 billion in Community Development Block Grant funds 
for necessary expenses related to disaster relief, long-term recovery, 
and restoration of infrastructure directly related to the consequences 
of the covered disasters. These 2006 Acts authorize the Secretary to 
waive, or specify alternative requirements for, any provision of any 
statute or regulation that the Secretary administers in connection with 
the obligation by the Secretary or use by the recipient of these funds 
and guarantees, except for requirements related to fair housing, 
nondiscrimination, labor standards, and the environment, upon a request 
by the State and a finding by the Secretary that such a waiver would 
not be inconsistent with the overall purpose of the statute. The 
following additional waivers and alternative requirements for funds 
provided under either 2006 Act are in response to requests from the 
State of Mississippi.
    The Secretary finds that the following waivers and alternative 
requirements, as described below, are not inconsistent with the overall 
purpose of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
1974, as amended, or the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing 
Act, as amended.
    Under the requirements of the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 3535(q)), regulatory waivers 
must be published in the Federal Register.
    Except as described in this and other notices applicable to the 
State of Mississippi's disaster recovery grants under either 2006 Act, 
statutory and regulatory provisions governing the Community Development 
Block Grant program for states, including those at 24 CFR part 570, 
shall apply to the use of these funds. In accordance with the 
appropriations acts, HUD will reconsider every waiver in this Notice on 
the 2-year anniversary of the day this Notice is published.

Waiver Justification

    In general, waivers already granted to the State of Mississippi and 
alternative requirements already specified for CDBG disaster recovery 
grant funds provided under Pub. L. 109-148 and Pub. L. 109-234 apply. 
The notices in which these prior waivers and alternative requirements 
applicable to Mississippi appear are 71 FR 7666, published February 13, 
2006; 71 FR 34457, published June 14, 2006; 71 FR 62372, published 
October 24, 2006; 71 FR 63337, published October 30, 2006; 72 FR 10020, 
published March 6, 2007; and 72 FR 48808, published August 24, 2007.
    The provisions of this Notice do not apply to funds provided under 
the regular CDBG program. The provisions provide additional flexibility 
in program design and implementation for the disaster recovery grants.
    Eligibility--Tourism. The State plans to provide disaster recovery 
grants to support the tourism industry and promote travel to 
communities in the disaster-impacted areas. Tourism industry support, 
such as a national consumer awareness advertising campaign for an area 
in general, is ineligible for CDBG assistance. However, Congress did 
make such support eligible, within limits, for the CDBG disaster 
recovery funds appropriated for recovery of Lower Manhattan following 
the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Additionally, an eligibility 
waiver, on a limited basis, was granted to Louisiana to support the 
disaster-impacted areas of the State's tourism industry in the June 14, 
2006, notice (71 FR 34451). HUD understands that such support can be a 
useful recovery tool in a damaged regional economy that depends on 
tourism for many of its jobs and tax revenues. Because the State is 
proposing advertising and marketing activities rather than direct 
assistance to tourism-dependent businesses, and because the measures of 
long-term benefit from the proposed activities must be derived using 
regression analysis and other indirect means, the waiver will permit 
use of no more than $5 million for assistance for the tourism industry 
(as requested by the State) and the assisted activities must be 
designed to support tourism to the most impacted and distressed areas 
related to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The waiver will expire 2 
years after the date of this notice, after which previously ineligible 
support of the tourism industry, such as marketing a community as a 
whole, will again be ineligible for CDBG disaster recovery funding.
    Eligibility--Project-Based Rental Assistance. The State requested a 
waiver to allow the use of project-based rental assistance (herein 
referred to as PBRA) to encourage owners, including non-profit owners, 
of small rental properties to reestablish affordable rental housing in 
areas that suffered the greatest losses. The subsidy funding, which may 
be used in conjunction with components of the State's Small Rental 
Assistance Program to repair, rehabilitate, reconstruct, or convert 
small rental properties, targets housing for low- and moderate-income 
families.
    A major challenge in providing affordable rental units is the 
difference between what tenants can afford to pay and the projected 
cost of operating these units. A project-based rental assistance 
program provides funding to landlords who rent a specified number of 
affordable apartments to low-income families or individuals. Assistance 
is

[[Page 61789]]

tied directly to the properties, so tenants can generally not move 
without losing their assistance. The Department encourages the State to 
avoid PBRA if other financing is available or if the project can 
reasonably be structured to achieve and maintain its target 
affordability without the subsidy. Therefore, HUD recommends an up-
front review reflecting the perceived financial costs of a project over 
the life of the subsidy. Additionally, HUD recommends that the State 
establish written requirements for income eligibility, maximum rents, 
utility allowances, structure quality, and affirmative marketing of 
projects throughout the life of the program.
    HUD recommends that, in implementing PBRA funding, the State 
acquire and maintain the expertise equivalent to that of a tax credit 
administrator with responsibilities including, but not limited to, 
making PBRA payments to owner-investors and compliance control of 
eligibility determinations. Due to the distinctive and potentially 
high-risk nature of this eligibility waiver, the expertise must be 
maintained through the life of the program to ensure the prevention of 
fraud, abuse of funds, and duplication of benefits. Furthermore, HUD 
may conduct financial monitoring to oversee the State's efforts. HUD 
reminds the State of the regulatory requirement for annual financial 
audits of its programs, and of the requirements of Federal Register 
Notices 71 FR 7666 and 71 FR 63337 that its entire program be under the 
purview of an internal auditor.

Applicable Rules, Statutes, Waivers, and Alternative Requirements

    1. General note. Except as described in this Notice, the statutory, 
regulatory, and notice provisions that shall apply to the use of these 
funds are:
    a. Those governing the funds appropriated under Public Law 109-148 
and Public Law 109-234 and already published in the Federal Register, 
including those in Notices 71 FR 7666, published February 13, 2006; 71 
FR 34457, published June 14, 2006; 71 FR 63337, published October 30, 
2006; and 72 FR 10020, published March 6, 2007.
    b. Those governing the Community Development Block Grant program 
for states, including those at 42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq. and 24 CFR part 
570.
    2. Waiver to permit some activities in support of the tourism 
industry. 42 U.S.C. 5305(a) and 24 CFR 570.489(f) are waived to the 
extent necessary to make eligible use of no more than $5 million for 
assistance for the tourism industry, including promotion of a community 
or communities in general, provided the assisted activities are 
designed to support tourism to the most impacted and distressed areas, 
related to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. This waiver will expire 2 
years after the date of this notice, after which previously ineligible 
support for the tourism industry, such as promotion of a community in 
general, will again be ineligible for CDBG funding.
    3. Waiver to permit project-based rental subsidies for affordable 
rental housing. 42 U.S.C 5305(a) is waived to the extent necessary to 
make eligible the rental income subsidy assistance component of the 
Small Rental Assistance Program included in the state's HUD-approved 
Action Plan for Disaster Recovery, provided that the assisted 
activities are designed to ensure that CDBG funds will be invested only 
in proportion to the extent of anticipated need.
    4. Information collection approval note. HUD has approval for 
information collection requirements in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520) under OMB control number 
2506-0165. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD may not 
conduct or sponsor, nor is a person required to respond to, a 
collection of information, unless the collection displays a valid 
control number.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance numbers for the disaster 
recovery grants under this Notice are as follows: 14.219; 14.228.

Finding of No Significant Impact

    A Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with respect to the 
environment has been made in accordance with HUD regulations at 24 CFR 
part 50, which implement section 102(2)(C) of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). The FONSI is 
available for public inspection between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays in 
the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500. Due to security measures at the HUD 
Headquarters building, an advance appointment to review the FONSI must 
be scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at (202) 708-3055 
(this is not a toll-free number).

    Dated: October 24, 2007.
Roy A. Bernardi,
Deputy Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E7-21440 Filed 10-30-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P