Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program Between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): Matching Tenant Data in Assisted Housing Programs, 579-581 [2010-33298]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 579-581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-33298]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5386-N-16]


Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program Between the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS): Matching Tenant Data in Assisted 
Housing Programs

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a New Computer Matching Agreement between HUD and 
HHS.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act 
of 1988, as amended, HUD is providing notice of its intent to execute a 
new computer matching agreement with HHS for a recurring matching 
program with HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and Office 
of Housing, involving comparisons of information provided by 
participants in any authorized HUD rental housing assistance program 
with the independent sources of income information available through 
the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) maintained by HHS. 
Specifically, the HUD-HHS computer matching program will now include 
program participants of HUD's new Disaster Housing Assistance Program 
(DHAP), in addition to participants of previously authorized HUD rental 
housing assistance programs and conditions requiring HUD's annual 
Quality Control for Rental Assistance Subsidy Determinations (``QC'') 
study to provide a statistical measurement of subsidy error within HUD 
rental housing assistance programs. The most recent renewal of the 
current matching agreement expires on January 5, 2011.

DATES: HUD will file a report of the subject matching program with the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate, and Office of Management and Budget's (OMB), 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The matching program will 
become effective as cited in Section V of this notice.

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 Privacy Act Inquires: Office of 
the Chief Information Officer, contact the Chief Privacy Officer, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 2256, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 402-8073. For 
program information: Office of Public and Indian Housing, contact 
Nicole Faison, Program Advisor for the Real Estate Assessment Center, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room PCFL1, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 475-7963; and 
for the Office of Housing, contact Catherine M. Brennan, Director of 
the Housing Assistance Policy Division, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, Room 6160, Washington, DC 20410, 
telephone number (202) 402-6732. (These are not toll-free numbers.) A 
telecommunications device for hearing- and speech-impaired individuals 
(TTY) is available at (800) 877-8339 (Federal Information Relay 
Service).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 11, 2009, Section 239 of HUD's 2009 
Appropriations Act modified Section 904 of the Stewart B. McKinney Act 
of 1988, as amended, to include the Disaster Housing Assistance Program 
(DHAP) as a ``program'' of HUD for the purpose of income verifications 
and computer matching. Computer matching for participants of the 
Disaster Housing Assistance Program is expected to begin no sooner than 
January 2, 2011. As such, pursuant to the Computer Matching and Privacy 
Protection Act (CMPPA) of 1988, as amended, OMB's guidance on this 
statute entitled ``Final Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of Public 
Law 100-503'', and OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix 1 to OMB's 
Revisions of Circular No. A-130, ``Transmittal Memorandum No. 4, 
Management of Federal Information Resources,'' prescribes agencies 
responsibilities for maintaining records about individuals, HUD is 
providing the public with notice of a new computer matching agreement 
with HHS (previous notice of a computer matching program between HUD 
and HHS was previously published at 73 FR 10046 on February 25, 2008). 
The first HUD-HHS computer matching program was conducted in September 
2005, with HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing. The scope of the 
HUD-HHS computer matching program was extended to include HUD's Office 
of Housing in December 2007. This notice supersedes the previous notice 
and changes the scope of the existing computer matching program to now 
include participants of HUD's DHAP.
    The matching program will be carried out only to the extent 
necessary to: (1) Verify the employment and income of individuals 
participating in programs identified in Section I below, to correctly 
determine the amount of their rent and assistance, (2) identify, 
prevent, and recover improper payments made on behalf of tenants, and 
(3) after removal of personal identifiers, to conduct analyses of the 
employment and income reporting of individuals participating in any HUD 
authorized rental housing assistance program.
    HUD will make the results of the computer matching program 
available to public housing agencies (PHAs), private housing owners and 
management agents (O/As) administering HUD rental assistance programs 
to enable them to verify employment and income and correctly determine 
the rent and assistance levels for individuals participating in those 
programs, and contract administrators (CAs) overseeing and monitoring 
O/A operations. This information also may be disclosed to the HUD 
Inspector General (HUD/IG) and the Attorney General in detecting and 
investigating potential cases of fraud, waste, and abuse of the above 
named programs.
    In addition to the above noted information disclosures, limited 
redisclosure of reports containing NDNH information may be redisclosed 
to the following persons and/or entities: (1) independent auditors for 
the sole purpose of performing an audit of whether these HUD authorized 
entities verified tenants' employment and/or income and calculated the 
subsidy and rent correctly; and (2) entities and/or individuals 
associated with grievance procedures and judicial proceedings (i.e. 
lawyers, court personnel, agency personnel, grievance hearing officers, 
etc.) relating to independently verified unreported income identified 
through this matching program.

[[Page 580]]

    HUD and its third party administrators (PHAs, O/As, and CAs) will 
use this matching authority to identify, reduce or eliminate improper 
payments in HUD's rental housing assistance programs, while continuing 
to ensure that HUD rental housing assistance programs serve and are 
accessible by its intended program beneficiaries.

I. Authority

    This matching program is being conducted pursuant to Section 217 of 
the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-199, Approved 
January 23, 2004), which amended Section 453(j) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 653(j)), Sections 3003 and 13403 of the Omnibus Budget 
Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-66, approved August 10, 1993); 
Section 542(b) of the 1998 Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 105-65); Section 
904 of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 
1988, as amended by Section 239 of HUD's 2009 Appropriations, effective 
March 11, 2009 (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.); 
and the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 
1437a(f)).
    The Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 authorizes HUD to 
require applicants and participants (as well as members of their 
household six years of age and older) in HUD-administered programs 
involving rental housing assistance to disclose to HUD their social 
security numbers (SSNs) as a condition of initial or continuing 
eligibility for participation in the programs. Effective January 31, 
2010, all applicants and participants under the age of six, are 
required to disclose their SSN to HUD, in accordance with regulatory 
revisions made to 24 CFR 5.216, as published at 74 FR 68924, on 
December 29, 2009.
    Section 217 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 
108-199, approved January 23, 2004) authorizes HUD to provide to HHS 
information on persons participating in any programs authorized by:
    (i) The United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.);
    (ii) Section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q);
    (iii) Section 221(d)(3), 221(d)(5) or 236 of the National Housing 
Act (12 U.S.C. 17151(d) and 1715z-1);
    (iv) Section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); or
    (v) Section 101 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 
(12 U.S.C. 1701s);
    The Refinement of Income and Rent Determination Requirements in 
Public and Assisted Housing Programs: Implementation of the Enterprise 
Income Verification (EIV) System--Amendments; Final rule published at 
74 FR 68924 on December 29, 2009, requires program administrators to 
use HUD's EIV system to verify tenant employment and income information 
during mandatory reexaminations or recertifications of family 
composition and income and reduce administrative and subsidy payment 
errors in accordance with HUD administrative guidance (new HUD 
regulation at 24 CFR 5.233).
    This matching program also assists HUD in complying with the 
following federal laws, requirements, and guidance related to 
identifying and reducing improper payments:
    1. Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA) 
(Pub. L. 111-204);
    2. Presidential Memorandum on Enhancing Payment Accuracy Through a 
``Do Not Pay List'' (June 18, 2010);
    3. Office of Management and Budget M-10-13, Issuance of Part III to 
OMB Circular A-123, appendix C;
    4. Presidential Memorandum on Finding and Recapturing Improper 
Payments (March 10, 2010);
    5. Reducing Improper Payments and Eliminating Waste in Federal 
Programs (Executive Order 13520, November 2009);
    6. Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-300); and
    7. Office of Management and Budget M-03-13, Improper Payments 
Information Act of 2002 Implementation Guide.
    HHS shall then compare this information provided by HUD with data 
contained in the National Directory of New Hires and report the results 
of the data match to HUD. The Act gives HUD the authority to disclose 
this information to CAs, O/As, and PHAs for the purpose of verifying 
the employment and income of individuals receiving benefits in the 
above programs. HUD shall not seek, use or disclose information 
relating to an individual without the prior written consent of that 
individual, and HUD has the authority to require consent as a condition 
of participating in HUD rental housing assistance programs.
    HHS' disclosure of data from the National Directory of New Hires is 
authorized by Section 217 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 
2004 (Pub. L. 108-199). The disclosures from the HHS system of records, 
``Location and Collection System of Records,'' No. 09-90-0074, will be 
made pursuant to ``Routine Use'' (17), identified in the Federal 
Register last published at 72 FR 51446 on September 7, 2007. This 
routine use authorizes HHS to ``disclose to the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development information in the NDNH portion of this system 
for purposes of verifying employment and income of individuals 
participating in specified programs and, after removal of personal 
identifiers, to conduct analyses of the employment and income reporting 
of these individuals.''

II. Objectives To Be Met by the Matching Program

    HUD's primary objective of the computer matching program is to 
verify the employment and income of individuals participating in the 
housing programs identified in Section I above, to determine the 
appropriate level of rental assistance, and to detect, deter and 
correct fraud, waste, and abuse in rental housing assistance programs. 
In meeting these objectives HUD also is carrying out a responsibility 
under 42 U.S.C. 1437f(K) to ensure that income data provided to PHAs, 
and O/As, by household members is complete and accurate. HUD's various 
rental housing assistance programs require that participants meet 
certain income and other criteria to be eligible for rental assistance. 
In addition, tenants generally are required to report and recertify the 
amounts and sources of their income at least annually. However, under 
the QHWRA of 1998, PHAs operating Public Housing programs may now offer 
tenants the option to pay a flat rent, or an income-based rent. Those 
tenants who select a flat rent will be required to recertify income at 
least every three years. In addition, the changes to the Admissions and 
Occupancy final rule (March 29, 2000 (65 FR 16692)) specified that 
household composition must be recertified annually for tenants who 
select a flat rent or income-based rent.
    An additional objective of this computer matching program is to 
facilitate the statistical measurement of subsidy error by completing 
an annual QC study. The QC study provides national estimates of the 
extent, severity, costs, and sources of rent errors

[[Page 581]]

for rental assistance programs, administered by the Offices of Housing 
and Pubic and Indian Housing. This study is designed to measure the 
extent of administrative error by housing providers and tenant income 
reporting errors. The errors evaluated in this study affect the rent 
contributions tenants should have been charged. HUD will use NDNH 
information resulting from this data comparison and disclosure solely 
for the purpose of conducting aggregate analyses of employment and 
income reporting of individuals participating in the rental housing 
assistance programs. The study will not contain personally identifiable 
information of individuals.

III. Program Description

    In this computer matching program, tenant-provided information 
included in HUD's automated systems of records known as Tenant Rental 
Assistance Certification System (TRACS) (HUD/H-11), Inventory 
Management System (HUD/PIH-4, formerly the Public and Indian Housing 
Information Center (PIC) (HUD/PIH-4), and Enterprise Income 
Verification (EIV) System (HUD/PIH-5) will be compared to data from the 
NDNH database. The notices for these systems were published at 65 FR 
52777, 67 FR 20986, and 70 FR 41780, which was subsequently amended and 
published at 72 FR 17589, respectively. The notice for the EIV system 
was subsequently updated and published in the Federal Register on 
September 1, 2009, at 74 FR 45235. HUD will disclose to HHS only tenant 
personal identifiers, i.e., full name, Social Security Number, and date 
of birth. HHS will match the HUD-provided personal identifiers to 
personal identifiers included in the National Directory of New Hires 
(NDNH) contained within their systems of records known as ``Location 
and Collection System of Records,'' No. 09-90-0074. HHS will provide 
income data to HUD only for individuals with matching personal 
identifiers.

A. Income Verification

    Any disparity between tenant-reported income and/or sources and the 
income and sources derived from the match (i.e., a ``hit'') will be 
further reviewed by HUD, the program administrator, or the HUD Office 
of Inspector General (OIG) to determine whether the income reported by 
tenants to the program administrator is correct and complies with HUD 
and program administrator requirements. Specifically, current or prior 
wage information and other data will be sought directly from employers 
and/or tenants.

B. Administrative or Legal Actions

    With respect to the ``hits'' that will occur as a result of this 
matching program, HUD requires program administrators to take 
appropriate action in consultation with tenants to: (1) resolve income 
disparities between tenant-reported and independent income source data, 
and (2) use correct income amounts in determining housing rental 
assistance.
    Program administrators must compute the rent in full compliance 
with all applicable occupancy regulations. Program administrator must 
ensure that they use the correct income and correctly compute the rent. 
The program administrator may not suspend, terminate, reduce, or make a 
final denial of any housing assistance to any tenant as the result of 
information produced by this matching program until: (a) The tenant has 
received notice from the program administrator of its findings, and 
tenants are informed of the opportunity to contest such findings and 
(b) either the expiration of any notice period provided in applicable 
HUD requirements of the program or the 30-day period beginning on the 
date on which notice of adverse findings was mailed or otherwise 
provided to the tenant. In all cases, program administrators will 
resolve income discrepancies in consultation with tenants. 
Additionally, serious violations, which program administrators, HUD 
program staff, or HUD OIG verify, should be referred for full 
investigation and appropriate civil and/or criminal proceedings.

IV. Records To Be Matched

    HHS will conduct the matching of tenant SSNs, full names, and dates 
of births (DOBs) to tenant data HUD supplies from its Tenant Rental 
Assistance Certification System (TRACS) (HUD/H-11) and Public and 
Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) system (HUD/PIH-4). Program 
administrators utilize the form HUD-50058 module within the PIC system 
and the form HUD-50059 module within the TRACS to provide HUD with the 
tenant data.
    HHS will match the tenant records included in HUD/H-11 and HUD/PIH-
4 to NDNH records contained in HHS' ``Location and Collection System of 
Records,'' No. 09-90-0074. HUD will place the resulting matched data 
into its Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system (HUD/PIH-5). The 
notice for this system was published at 72 FR 17589, and subsequently 
updated and published in the Federal Register on September 1, 2009, at 
74 FR 45235. Routine uses of records maintained in the system, 
including categories of users and purposes of such uses was published 
in that Notice.

V. Period of the Match

    The matching program will become effective and the matching may 
commence after the respective Data Integrity Boards (DIBs) of both 
agencies approve and sign the computer matching agreement, and after, 
the later of the following: (1) 40 days after report of the matching 
program is sent to Congress and OMB; (2) at least 30 days after 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register, unless comments are 
received, which would result in a contrary determination. The computer 
matching program will be conducted according to agreement between HUD 
and HHS. The computer matching agreement for the planned match will 
terminate either when the purpose of the computer matching program is 
accomplished, or 18 months from the effective date. The agreement may 
be renewed for one 12-month period, with the mutual agreement of all 
involved parties, if the following conditions are met:
    (1) Within three months of the expiration date, all Data Integrity 
Boards (DIBs) review the agreement, find that the program will be 
conducted without change, and find a continued favorable examination of 
benefit/cost results; and (2) All parties certify that the program has 
been conducted in compliance with the agreement.
    The agreement may be terminated, prior to accomplishment of the 
computer matching purpose or 18 months from the date the agreement is 
signed (whichever comes first), by the mutual agreement of all involved 
parties within 30 days of written notice.

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).

    Dated: December 16, 2010.
Jerry E. Williams,
Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-33298 Filed 1-4-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P