Department of Housing and Urban Development August 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice responds to recent inquiries to the Department about the status of HUD's update of a comprehensive set of closing forms and documents for use in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) multifamily rental project and health care facility (excluding hospitals) mortgage insurance programs. On August 2, 2004, HUD issued for review and public comment 36 proposed revised closing forms. The public comment period closed on October 1, 2004, and HUD received submissions from 25 commenters. This notice advises the housing industry and interested members of the public that these documents remain in development and are not ready for issuance. Although the closing documents remain in development, HUD understands the interest and concern of industry and other interested members of the public regarding the timetable for release of these documents in final form by HUD and the effective date of such forms. To address the interest and concerns regarding the status of development, this notice describes policy decisions that have been made on the closing documents, and the processes, which these documents must still undergo before final issuance. In addition to this notice, HUD will conduct a meeting, on Thursday, September 21, 2006, at HUD Headquarters, to address questions about the decisions that have been made and the processes that these documents must undergo before final issuance. HUD is inviting to this meeting, the 25 commenters, and, subject to room capacity limitations, other interested members of the public. HUD also will make phone lines available to expand the capacity of the members of the public that may participate in this meeting. The purpose of this meeting is not for the purpose of reopening the public comment period on the closing documents. HUD will not accept new comments at the meeting, either orally or in writing, nor will HUD engage in a discussion of issues still under consideration. The purpose of the meeting is solely to brief the commenters and interested members of the public on the status of development of the revised closing forms. HUD believes that a briefing on the process of development of the forms will assist all interested parties in understanding the stages of review these forms must undergo prior to issuance. HUD intends to finalize and then implement the revised closing forms in calendar year 2007.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

In accordance with section 102(a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this announcement notifies the public of funding decisions made by the Department in a competition for funding under the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP). This announcement contains the names of the awardees and the amounts of the awards made available by HUD.

In accordance with section 102(a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this announcement notifies the public of funding decisions made by the Department in a competition for funding under the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP). This announcement contains the names of the awardees and the amounts of the awards made available by HUD.

In 2004, HUD established the Robert L. Woodson, Jr., Award (Woodson Award) as an annual award program of America's Affordable Communities Initiative. The award program was established to recognize state and local governments for excellence in providing affordable housing through regulatory reduction. Through this notice, HUD announces its intention to alter the award process in order to provide more flexibility in the nomination and selection of award recipients. HUD intends to eliminate time restrictions for submitting applications that nominate jurisdictions for exhibiting outstanding leadership in reducing regulatory burden. This notice would eliminate the current time restrictions for submitting applications for the Woodson Award. This notice would allow applications to be submitted at any time during the calendar year, and allow HUD to announce Woodson Award winners at any time during the year. This added flexibility should help encourage creativity in reducing regulatory barriers to affordable housing.

In accordance with section 102(a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this announcement notifies the public of funding decisions made by the Department in a competition for funding under the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Community Development Technical Assistance programs. This announcement contains the names of the awardees and the amounts of the awards made available by HUD.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

This Notice identifies unutilized, underutilized, excess, and surplus Federal property reviewed by HUD for suitability for possible use to assist the homeless.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

The proposed information collection requirement described below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal. Application for funding of Indian and Alaska Native Community Development Block Grants for the development of decent housing, environment, and economic opportunities for low and moderate-income persons.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal. PHAs are required to submit annual and 5-Year PHA Plans to HUD for tenant based assistance and operating subsidies. These Plans advise HUD, residents, and members of the public of the PHA's mission for serving low-income and very lowincome families, and the PHA's operations, programs, services, and strategies for addressing those needs.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

This proposed rule announces an extension of the public comment period on HUD's proposed rule regarding the Manufactured Home Installation Program, published on June 14, 2006. The June 14, 2006, proposed rule provided for a 60-day public comment period, which would close the public comment period on August 14, 2006. This notice advises that the public comment period has been extended to September 14, 2006.

In accordance with section 102(a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this announcement notifies the public of funding decisions made by the Department in a competition for funding under the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Community Development Technical Assistance programs. This announcement contains the names of the awardees and the amounts of the awards made available by HUD.

This Notice identifies unutilized, underutilized, excess, and surplus Federal property reviewed by HUD for suitability for possible use to assist the homeless.

HUD is amending HUD/PIH-5 to reflect changes in the following section: Categories of Individuals Covered by the System, Categories of Records in the System, Authority for Maintenance of the System, Purpose of the System and the Routine Uses. These sections are revised to reflect the present status of the information contained in the system. A more detailed description of the present system is contained in the Supplemental Information section.

On January 20, 2006, HUD published its Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, Notice of Funding Availability Policy Requirements and General Section (General Section) to the SuperNOFA for HUD's Discretionary Programs. On March 8, 2006, HUD published its Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, SuperNOFA, for HUD's Discretionary Grant Programs. This notice announces a change made to how the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) will capture and use applicant identification data and extends the due date for the Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) Family-Homeownership NOFA. The change contained in this notice does not affect the application packages on Grants.gov.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of the upcoming meetings of the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (the Committee) to be held via telephone conference. The meetings are open to the general public, which may participate by following the instructions below.

On March 8, 2006, HUD published its Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 SuperNOFA (SuperNOFA), for HUD's Discretionary Grant Programs. This document makes corrections to the notices of funding availability (NOFA) for the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program (Section 202) and the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program (Section 811). Through this notice, HUD is announcing that it has amended its requirement for the preparation of Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) to permit HUD to accept as an acceptable Phase I ESA, either one that had been prepared based on the current American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) Standard E 1527-05 or the previous Standard E 1527-00. Because the requirement to submit a Phase I ESA is a threshold issue that does not affect an applicant's scoring, HUD is not reopening either the Section 202 or Section 811 competitions and will not accept additional applications.

This notice announces changes in the interest rates to be paid on debentures issued with respect to a loan or mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration under the provisions of the National Housing Act (the Act). The interest rate for debentures issued under section 221(g)(4) of the Act during the 6-month period beginning July 1, 2006, is 5\3/4\ percent. The interest rate for debentures issued under any other provision of the Act is the rate in effect on the date that the commitment to insure the loan or mortgage was issued, or the date that the loan or mortgage was endorsed (or initially endorsed if there are two or more endorsements) for insurance, whichever rate is higher. The interest rate for debentures issued under these other provisions with respect to a loan or mortgage committed or endorsed during the 6-month period beginning July 1, 2006, is 5\3/8\ percent. However, as a result of an amendment to section 224 of the Act, if an insurance claim relating to a mortgage insured under sections 203 or 234 of the Act and endorsed for insurance after January 23, 2004, is paid in cash, the debenture interest rate for purposes of calculating a claim shall be the monthly average yield, for the month in which the default on the mortgage occurred, on United States Treasury Securities adjusted to a constant maturity of 10 years.

This notice describes additional waivers and alternative requirements applicable to the CDBG disaster recovery grant provided to the State of Texas for the purpose of assisting in the recovery in the most impacted and distressed areas related to the consequences of Hurricane Rita in 2005. HUD previously published an allocation and application notice on February 13, 2006, applicable to this grant and four others under the same appropriation. 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 this purpose, upon the request of the state grantee. This notice for the State of Texas also notes statutory provisions affecting program design and implementation.