Department of Housing and Urban Development October 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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. The information collected determines if the Department will guarantee loans and mortgage insurance made by private lenders to Native American borrowers on restricted land.

This final rule amends HUD's regulations governing the requirements for pet ownership in HUD-assisted public housing and multifamily housing projects for the elderly and persons with disabilities. Specifically, this final rule conforms these pet ownership requirements to the requirements for animals assisting persons with disabilities in HUD's public housing programs, other than housing projects for the elderly or persons with disabilities. This final rule follows publication of an October 15, 2007, proposed rule, and takes into consideration the public comments received on the proposed rule. In response to one comment, HUD has made a nonsubstantive change to the proposed rule. Specifically, consistent with the phrasing used in HUD's public housing pet ownership regulations, this final rule amends the assisted housing regulations to refer to ``animals that assist, support, or provide service to persons with disabilities.''

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 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.

In accordance with Section 102 (a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this document notifies the public of funding awards for Fiscal Year 2008 Hispanic- Serving Institutions Assisting Communities Program (HSIAC). The purpose of this document is to announce the names, addresses and the amount awarded to the winners to be used to help Hispanic-Serving Institutions of Higher Education to expand their role and effectiveness in addressing community development needs in their localities, including neighborhood revitalization, housing and economic development, principally for persons of low- and moderate-income consistent with the purposes of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 as amended.

In accordance with section 102(a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this document notifies the public of funding awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). The purpose of this document is to announce the names and addresses of the award winners and the amount of the awards which are to be used to enable Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) to build, expand, renovate, and equip their own facilities, and expand the role of the TCUs into the community through the provision of needed services such as health programs, job training, and economic development activities.

In accordance with Section 102(a)(4)(C) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, this document notifies the public of funding awards for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Early Doctoral Student Research Grant (EDSRG) Program. The purpose of this document is to announce the names and addresses of the award winners and the amount of the awards to be used to help doctoral students cultivate their research skills through the preparation of research manuscripts that focus on housing and urban development issues.

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. The 2009 AHS is a longitudinal study that provides a periodic measure on the quality, availability, and cost of housing for both the country (AHS-N) and one select metropolitan area (AHS-MS). The study also provides information on demographic and other characteristics of the occupants. Federal and local agencies use AHS data to evaluate housing issues.

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.

HUD proposes to amend one of its system of records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. HCS/CAR contains detailed characteristics of housing counseling clients that receive specific services from HUD-approved counseling agencies. The previous system of records was published at 78 FR 17366. The Department is modifying the system of records to include new capabilities for the system and to include a new ``Purpose'' captions, and an expansion on other captions for additional clarification purposes, to rename a new system manger in order to accurately identify the official responsible for managing the system. Additionally, updates are applied to the ``Routine Use'' caption, to expand the use of data to HUD approved entities for the purpose of conducting research and evaluation studies directly related to the participation and outcome of HUD's Housing Counseling Programs.

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 would make changes to several sections of the regulations for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for states (State CDBG). This proposed rule would streamline and update the regulations to reflect statutory changes, clarify the program income requirements, provide other clarifications to the State CDBG regulations, and make a conforming change to the regulations applicable to the CDBG Entitlement program. This proposed rule would also provide states additional flexibility in their administration of the program.

This interim rule would make conforming amendments to the regulations of the Public Housing Operating Fund Program to reflect recent statutory amendments that allow for: The maximum term of an energy performance contract (EPC) between a public housing authority (PHA) and an entity other than HUD to be up to 20 years, and the extension of an existing EPC, without reprocurement, to a period of no more than 20 years, to allow additional energy conservation improvements. The increase in the maximum EPC term, which is currently limited to 12 years, is provided by statutory amendments and will enable longer payback periods for energy conservation measures.

Through this notice, HUD is announcing the availability on its website of HUD's Fleet Alternative Fuel Vehicle Acquisition Report for Fiscal Year 2007, which was prepared in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 1992.

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 final rule makes changes to the Department's Mortgagee Review Board (Board) regulations to clarify and better reflect statutory directives and amend current practice, and to modify the Board's procedures governing hearings. This rule also removes provisions that unnecessarily duplicate the authorizing statute and clarifies the authority and duties of the Board in taking administrative action against mortgagees approved by the Federal Housing Administration. This rule separates and clarifies the grounds for administrative action and the factors considered by the Board in evaluating whether to take administrative action, as well as requiring the mortgagee to address these factors in its response to the Board's notice of violation. This rule follows publication of a March 28, 2008, proposed rule on which HUD received one public comment. At this final rule stage, HUD has decided to adopt the proposed rule with minor changes, as described below.

On July 10, 2008, HUD published the NOFA for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Assistance Program. Through this NOFA, HUD is making available approximately $1.42 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 for the CoC program. On August 13, 2008, HUD published a notice that established the deadline date for the submission of applications and corrected or clarified portions of the CoC NOFA. Since that date, Hurricane Ike has greatly impacted Continuums of Care in Texas, Louisiana and other places. In response to this disaster, today's publication extends the deadline date for the submission of applications.

This notice describes the statutorily required reconsideration of additional waivers and alternative requirements applicable to the CDBG disaster recovery grant provided to the State of Alabama on June 14, 2006, for the purpose of assisting in the recovery in the most impacted and distressed areas related to the consequences of Hurricane Katrina 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 and extended that notice on August 8, 2008. 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 Alabama also notes statutory provisions affecting program design and implementation. The original notice has been reconsidered and the waivers are being retained.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposes to amend one of its Privacy Act record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. The amendment is to reflect changes in the system name, location, new system managers and current updates to the ``Purpose'' and ``Systems Security Measures'' statements. This system is managed and operated by HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing. IMS replaces the former Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) system. The notice for the PIC system was published at 67 FR 20986. This record system supports the administration of programs for families receiving housing assistance for those entities that administer HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing rental assistance programs. The entities that administer PIH's rental assistance programs are the Public Housing Authorities (PHAs). Additionally, as part of HUD's oversight responsibility, the collected data maintained in IMS is used to calculate the amount of subsidy authorized and disbursed to PHAs and to monitor PHAs' overall performance and use of HUD funds. The existing scope, objectives, and business processes in place for this program remain unchanged. System Security Measures: The availability and data in IMS are important. Much of the data needs to be protected from unanticipated or unintentional modification. HUD restricts the use of the information to HUD's oversight responsibility, and access to the IMS is controlled by using the Web Access Security System (WASS) security module, which requires users to use the single sign-on security interface. WASS consists of a secure connection component and a secure systems component. WASS provides an overall security umbrella for thousands of HUD-wide system users. The secure connection component of WASS includes online registration forms that are accessible via the World Wide Web and are used by HUD's trusted Business Partners to submit requests for the authority to access secure systems that reside behind HUD's firewall. The data captured by the secure connection registration page is used to establish authorized user on the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server. Secure connection provides system level security by validating users against the LDAP server prior to providing users access to HUD's Secure System environment from the internet by: (1) The WASS module controls a user's access, updates access, read-only access, and approval access based on the user's role and security access level; (2) unauthorized system access is reduced by restricting access by job function and by the use of user identifications (User IDs) and password and user IDs that are utilized to identify the transaction by users; (3) inaccurate and incomplete data are identified and eliminated with extensive edits; and (4) data corruption/ destruction is handled by limiting user IDs that have update rights to the production server/databases. Data Quality: PHAs enter management, building and unit inventory details, and family information into IMS. Family data includes the families' names, social security numbers (SSN), and dates of birth. The social security number search feature was established to help HUD maintain data quality and integrity and to support one of its strategic objectives to prevent fraud and abuse. This search feature: (1) Helps to confirm that those families entitled to benefits receive benefits; (2) assists in limiting the duplication of benefits; and (3) helps to prevent submission of false applications for benefits, thereby ensuring data quality.

HUD proposes to establish a new record system to add to its inventory of systems of records subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended. The purpose of the proposed new system of records, identified as the Financial Data Mart (FDM, A75R) will be used by HUD's Chief Financial Office to store financial, limited personnel, vendor, and customer data.

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 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.