Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Tenant Data Collection; Advance Solicitation of Comment on Data Collection Methodology, 14149-14150 [E9-7041]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 59 (Monday, March 30, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14149-14150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-7041]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5298-N-01]


Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Tenant Data Collection; 
Advance Solicitation of Comment on Data Collection Methodology

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 requires state 
agencies administering properties receiving low-income housing tax 
credits to submit to HUD, not less than annually, certain demographic 
and economic information on households residing in such properties. 
This statute also requires HUD to establish standards and definitions 
for the information that state housing agencies must submit, and to 
provide them with technical assistance in establishing systems to 
compile and submit such information. This notice seeks early input from 
applicable state agencies, and other interested stakeholders on a 
methodology or approach to meet this statutory requirement in advance 
of HUD's submission of a formal proposal for public comment.
    Comment Due Date: May 29, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, 451 
7th Street, SW., Room 10276, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications must refer to 
the above docket number and title. There are two methods for submitting 
public comments. All submissions must refer to the above docket number 
and title.
    1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by 
mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500.
    2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
https://www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to 
submit comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments 
allows the commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, 
ensures timely receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make them immediately 
available to the public. Comments submitted electronically through the 
https://www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other commenters 
and interested members of the public. Commenters should follow the 
instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.

    Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must 
be submitted through one of the two methods specified above. Again, 
all submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the 
rule.

    No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable.
    Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted 
comments and communications submitted to HUD will be available for 
public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the 
above address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters 
building, an advance appointment to review the public comments must be 
scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is 
not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments 
may access this number through TTY by calling the Federal Information 
Relay Service at 800-877-8339. Copies of all comments submitted are 
available for inspection and downloading at https://www.regulations.gov

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on LIHTC tenant data 
collection, contact Michael K. Hollar, Senior Economist, Economic 
Development and Public Finance Division, Office of Policy Development 
and Research, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street, SW., Room 8216, Washington, DC 20410-6000, telephone number 
(202) 402-5878, or send an e-mail to Michael.K.Hollar@hud.gov. For 
specific legal questions pertaining to Section 42 of the Internal 
Revenue Code, contact Branch 5, Office of the Associate Chief Counsel, 
Passthroughs and Special Industries, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20224, telephone number (202) 
622-3040, fax number (202) 622-4451. Additional copies of this notice 
are available through HUD User at (800) 245-2691 for a small fee to 
cover duplication and mailing costs.
    Copies Available Electronically: This notice and additional 
information about the LIHTC program are available electronically on the 
Internet at https://www.huduser.org/datasets/lihtc.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA)

    Section 2835(d) of HERA (Pub. L. 110-289, approved July 30, 2008) 
amends Title I of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq. 
) (1937 Act) to add a new section 36 (to be codified as 42 U.S.C. 
1437z-8) that requires each state agency administering tax credits 
under section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (low-income 
housing tax credits or LIHTC) to furnish HUD, not less than annually, 
information concerning the race, ethnicity, family composition, age, 
income, use of rental assistance under section 8(o) of the U.S. Housing 
of 1937 or other similar assistance, disability status, and monthly 
rental payments of households residing in each property receiving such 
credits through such agency. New section 36(a) of the 1937 Act further 
provides that, to the extent feasible, each agency administering tax

[[Page 14150]]

credits should collect such information through existing reporting 
processes and in a manner that minimizes the burden on property owners.
    New section 36(b) requires HUD to establish standards and 
definitions for the information to be collected by state agencies and 
to provide states with technical assistance in establishing systems to 
compile and submit such information and, in coordination with other 
federal agencies administering housing programs, establish procedures 
to minimize duplicative reporting requirements for properties assisted 
under multiple housing programs.
    New section 36(c) provides that HUD ``shall, not less than 
annually, compile and make publicly available the information submitted 
to the Secretary pursuant to subsection (a).''

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

    LIHTC is a tax incentive intended to increase the availability of 
low-income housing. Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
provides an income tax credit to owners of newly constructed or 
substantially rehabilitated low-income rental housing projects. The 
credits allocated are based on the cost of units placed in service as 
low-income units under particular minimum occupancy and maximum rent 
criteria. In general, a building must meet one of two thresholds to be 
eligible for LIHTC: (1) At least 20 percent of the units must be rent-
restricted and occupied by tenants with incomes no higher than 50 
percent of the area median gross income (AMGI); or (2) At least 40 
percent of the units must be rent-restricted and occupied by tenants 
with incomes no higher than 60 percent of AMGI. The term ``rent-
restricted'' means that gross rent, including an allowance for tenant-
paid utilities, cannot exceed 30 percent of the tenant's imputed income 
limitation (i.e. , 50 percent or 60 percent of AMGI). The rent and 
occupancy thresholds remain in effect for at least 15 years, and 
building owners are required to enter into agreements to maintain the 
low-income character of the building for at least an additional 15 
years.
    Currently, there is no comprehensive administrative database 
containing data on LIHTC tenant households. HUD's Office of Policy 
Development and Research, under its broad authority to conduct research 
on housing and urban development issues, has collected and published 
data on LIHTC projects periodically throughout the life of the LIHTC 
program, and annually since 1999. The HERA requirement reflects 
Congressional intent to have data on households residing in LIHTC 
properties collected annually and submitted under uniform standards.

This Document

    Through this notice, HUD seeks to inform all the public of its 
responsibilities with respect to LIHTC data collection, and to reach a 
broader audience (than is possible through informal meetings) to 
solicit early input from state agencies and other interested members of 
the public on standards and definitions that would be helpful to state 
agencies in their collection of the information required by section 36 
of the 1937 Act, as well as input on procedures that would minimize 
duplicative reporting requirements.
    In an effort to initiate discussion of these statutory requirements 
and commence the solicitation of informal feedback on these 
requirements, the data collection requirements were first discussed in 
a public forum at the Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System 
(TRACS) quarterly industry meeting on October 22, 2008. At that time, 
HUD also announced its intention to create an informal working group, 
open, at any time, to any interested parties, for the members of the 
working group to share their individual views of this data collection 
effort, and any past experiences with similar data collection efforts. 
HUD will use the information provided by the various members of the 
working group and consider the members' individual recommendations and 
suggestions in its development of the standards and definitions that 
HUD is charged with issuing under section 36 of the 1937 Act.
    HUD is seeking feedback from the public on the standards, 
definitions, and procedures for collecting the required data. One 
possible approach for which it solicits early comment, is to use two 
forms, one requesting data on LIHTC properties, indicating among other 
things project-based subsidies (so that universally applicable project 
data need not be separately reported for each tenant), and the other 
requesting data on LIHTC tenants and unit-specific characteristics. HUD 
requests that the public provide comments on whether this approach will 
minimize reporting burden on property managers, and on any other 
approaches that HUD should consider.
    To collect LIHTC property characteristics, HUD seeks comments on 
whether the agency should use the form currently used to collect data 
in HUD's LIHTC projects placed in service database. Annually, HUD 
requests, through a contractor, data on a volunteer basis from the 
state housing finance agencies on LIHTC projects placed in service. 
This form has two advantages over creating a new form. First, it is 
OMB-approved through 2011 and therefore would not require a new review 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act unless modifications are made. 
Second, the state housing agencies currently use this form and are 
familiar with it. Continuing with a familiar form would assist the goal 
of minimizing the reporting burden. More information on HUD's current 
LIHTC projects placed in service database can be found here: https://lihtc.huduser.org/.
    The proposed tenant data collection form is based on the National 
Council of State Housing Agencies' (NCSHA's) best practices Tenant 
Income Certification (TIC) Form. The IRS does not require a standard 
form across states to certify tenants residing in LIHTC-financed units. 
NCSHA's best practices TIC form is used by many state housing finance 
agencies, either as is or in a slightly modified version. Since the 
data requested on this form is already collected by many state housing 
finance agencies, HUD believes this form, modified to account for 
additional information that HUD is required by statute to report, would 
minimize the reporting burden on the state agencies. The form 
contemplated by HUD amends NCSHA's TIC to include race, ethnicity, and 
disability status.
    HUD anticipates publishing its formal proposal for implementing the 
data collection during the summer of 2009. Once data transmission 
methods are in place, data collection could begin as early as the first 
or second quarter of 2010.

    Dated: March 19, 2009.
Jean Lin Pao,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
 [FR Doc. E9-7041 Filed 3-27-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P