Department of Housing and Urban Development November 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces HUD's intention to competitively sell certain unsubsidized single family mortgage loans, in a sealed bid sale offering called SFLS 2012-1, without Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance. This notice also generally describes the bidding process for the sale and certain persons who are ineligible to bid. This first sale of Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 is scheduled for December 7, 2011. FHA also expects to conduct two additional sales in FY 2012 in April and September 2012.

In this notice, the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) supersedes all prior redelegations of authority made within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for FHEO under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and HUD's implementing regulations, and redelegates certain authority as set forth herein to the General Deputy Assistant Secretary, who in turn redelegates certain authority as set forth herein to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Programs, Director of the Office of Enforcement, Director of the Office of Systemic Investigations and the FHEO Region Directors.

In this notice, the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) supersedes all prior redelegations of authority made within the office of the Assistant Secretary for FHEO under Section 561 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987, the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), and retains and with noted exception redelegates this authority to the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for FHEO, who retains and further redelegates certain authority to FHEO headquarters and region office staff.

The Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) supersedes all prior redelegations of authority made within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for FHEO regarding civil rights related program requirements (CRRPR) of HUD programs to FHEO staff and retains and redelegates this authority, with noted exceptions, to the General Deputy Assistant Secretary of FHEO, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Programs, Director of the Office of Programs, and the FHEO Region Directors.

The Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) supersedes all prior redelegations of authority from the Assistant Secretary for FHEO under Title I, Section 109 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, and redelegates certain authority, to FHEO headquarters and Region staff.

In this notice, the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity designates the Order of Succession for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. This Order of Succession supersedes all previous Orders of Succession for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development announces the appointments of, Estelle B. Richman, Karen Newton Cole, Peter J. Grace, Jemine A. Bryon, Clifford D. Taffett, Bryan Greene, Kevin M. Simpson, Lori Michalski, Donald J. LaVoy, Patricia A. Hoban-Moore, and Kevin R. Cooke, as members of the Departmental Performance Review Board. The address is: Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC 20410-0050.

On July 14, 2011, HUD published a proposed rule to update HUD's regulations to conform to the statutory requirement that appraisers must be certified, rather than licensed, by a state appraisal licensing board in order to appear on the FHA Appraiser Roster. This requirement was established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Although current HUD practice is in compliance with the statutory mandate, the regulations reflect outdated prior policy of permitting state-licensed appraisers to be listed on the FHA Appraiser Roster. In addition, HUD proposed updating the FHA Appraiser Roster regulations by replacing the obsolete references to the Credit Alert Interactive Voice Response System (CAIVRS) with references to its successor, the online-based Credit Alert Verification Reporting System. This final rule follows the publication of the July 14, 2011, proposed rule. In this final rule, HUD is adopting the proposed rule without change. HUD did not receive any public comments on the proposed rule.

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 Department's Congressional Grants Division administers congressionally mandated grants, known as earmarks. These projects have been identified in the annual appropriation of funds to the Department and in the accompanying conference reports or congressional record accompanying each appropriation. Earmarks generally fall into two categories: Economic Development Initiative-Special Project (EDI-SP) and Neighborhood Initiative (NI) grants.

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 Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities Program (Program), through a Notice of Funding Availability, will identify intermediary organizations that can provide capacity building support for communities engaged in planning efforts that support community involvement and integrate housing, land use, land cleanup and preparation for reuse, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments.

This notice announces HUD's intention to sell certain unsubsidized multifamily and healthcare mortgage loans, without Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insurance, in a competitive, sealed bid sale (MHLS 2012-1). This notice also describes generally the bidding process for the sale and certain persons who are ineligible to bid.

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. All PHAs are required to submit annual plans, however, PHAs with Moving to Work demonstration agreements (29 at the time of submission of this request) the annual MTW plan and annual MTW report are submitted in lieu of the standard annual and 5 year PHA plans. Revisions are being made to this 50900 form to streamline the process of Agencies submitting required Annual Plan and Report Data to HUD so that the Department is able to better respond to Congressional and other inquiries regarding outcome measures obtained and promising practices learned throughout the duration of the demonstration.

This proposed rule would make several revisions to the regulations governing the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) Program and the Title VI Loan Guarantee Program. HUD negotiated the proposed rule with active Tribal participation under the procedures of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, pursuant to the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2008. The proposed regulatory changes would implement statutory amendments and reflect the consensus decisions reached by HUD and the Tribal representatives.

This rule proposes to revise HUD's energy audit requirements applicable to HUD's public housing program for the purpose of clarifying such requirements, as well as identifying energy-efficient measures that need to be addressed in the audit and procedures for improved coordination with physical needs assessments. In addition, the rule moves the energy audit requirements to a different part of HUD's title of the Code of Federal Regulations.

HUD is providing public notice that it proposes to design a new system, the Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP), and revise and delete information published in the Federal Register (FR) about one of its existing Privacy Act system of records. The creation of the new system is to facilitate migration and streamline efforts for record collection activities under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lender approval and recertification process. The new system LEAP will take full custody over the records currently maintained by HUD's Lender Approval Files System of Records Notice (SORN) and will fully automate the manual records process for these records. The HUD/FHA Lender Approval Files SORN contains information pertaining to individuals who are principals or officers of financial institutions seeking approval or approved to originate, service, or hold FHA single family or multifamily insured mortgages, or Title I and Title II insured loans. Fully automating and streamlining HUD's lender approval and recertification process enables HUD's Office of FHA to efficiently perform the workflow operation and the assessments required to ascertain a financial institution's eligibility and/or qualification to participating under a FHA-insured mortgage, or Title I and Title II insured loans. Subsequent changes that have occurred for the previously published notice involve: Changes to the Categories of Individuals Covered by the System, Categories of Records in the System, Purposes of the System, and Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories of Users and Purposes of Such Users. This notice serves to update, replace and delete the prior SORN reference published in the Federal Register on August 22, 1999 for HUD/FHA Lender Approval Files.

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 is being collected by telephone and on-site interviews to assess program design, implementation, inputs and outcomes at the local level.

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 for funding under the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) Enforcement Testing Technical Assistance for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. This announcement contains the names and addresses of those award recipients selected for funding based on the rating and ranking of all applications and the amount of the awards.

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. This information is necessary to monitor the use of grant funds for the Congregate Housing Services Program (CHSP) according to statutory, regulatory, and administrative requirements.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development requests review and approval of the Paperwork Reduction Act requirements for the collection of information required to evaluate the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Demonstration (VHPD). The Department solicits public comments on the proposed collection of information to: (1) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (2) minimize the burden of the information collection on those who respond; including through the use of appropriate automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology that will reduce burden.

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 U.S. Department of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intends to make funding available from the FY 2012 Transformation Initiative for Research Grants related to the Choice Neighborhoods Demonstration. This information collection is for applications for funding, and reporting requirements for funded applications.

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.

Through this notice, the Secretary delegates all authority under the Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002 to the Chief Human Capital Officer. The Chief Human Capital Officer reports to the Chief Operating Officer, as described in the Federal Register notice published on June 14, 2011 at 76 FR 34745.

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 Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP). This announcement contains the consolidated names and addresses of this year's award recipients under SHOP.

Through this notice, the Secretary of HUD delegates to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) all authority and responsibility for the Department's information technology (IT) and authority to serve as the Department's Senior Information Technology Executive.

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 displacement/relocation for person (families, individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and farms) displaced by certain HUD programs. Periodically, HUD reviews a random sample of the Agency files to assure that persons did received the relocation payments to which they are entitled.