Department of Housing and Urban Development 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of HUD's efforts to strengthen the risk management practices of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), HUD published a final rule on April 20, 2010, revising its regulations pertaining to the FHA-approval of mortgage lenders. The April 20, 2010, final rule increased the net worth requirement for FHA-approved lenders and mortgagees, eliminated HUD's approval of loan correspondents, and amended the general approval standards for lenders and mortgagees. This final rule makes several nonsubstantive clarifications and corrections to the provisions of the April 20, 2010, final rule. The changes will improve the clarity of HUD's regulatory requirements and, thereby, facilitate program participant compliance and improve HUD's ability to monitor and enforce its risk management regulations.

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 request is for the clearance of data collection instruments designed to collect the information necessary to conduct a random assignment evaluation of pre-purchase homeownership counseling. The evaluation will produce valuable information about the impact of pre- purchase homeownership counseling on a range of outcomes for low- to moderate-income, first-time home buyers. This is the first OMB request for this evaluation.

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 information collection will ensure that Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) follow sound financial practices and that federal funds are used for eligible expenditures. PHAs use the information as a financial summary and analysis of immediate and long-term operating programs and plans to provide control over operations and achieve objectives.

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. Tenant data is collected to understand demographic, family profile, income, and housing information for participants in the Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, Section 8 Project Based Certificate, Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation, and Moving to Work Demonstration programs. This data also allows HUD to monitor the performance of programs and the performance of public housing agencies that administer the programs.

On April 10, 2012, HUD announced increases to mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) for certain Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Multifamily Housing, Health Care Facilities, and Hospital Mortgage Insurance programs for commitments to be issued or reissued in FY 2013, and solicited public comment on the announced increases. In the April 2012, notice, HUD submitted that the MIP increases would not only provide additional protection for the General Insurance and Special Risk Insurance (GI/SRI) fund and increase receipts to the Treasury, but would also encourage private lending to return to the market by ensuring FHA is not under-pricing its risk. The April 2012 notice also announced that a positive credit subsidy obligation will not be required in FY 2013 for loans under any of the active mortgage insurance programs for multifamily housing or health care facilities. This notice announces that the proposed MIP increases will be implemented in FY 2012. This notice also addresses the public comments received in response to the announced MIP increases.

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. Builders who request changes to HUD's accepted drawings and specifications for proposed construction properties as required by homebuyers or determined by the builder use the information collection. The lender reviews the changes and amends the approved exhibits. These changes may affect the value shown on the DUD commitment. HUD requires the builder to use form HUD-92577 to request changes for proposed substantial rehabilitation construction properties (203k program properties). HUD's collection of this information is for the purpose of ascertaining that HUD does not insure a mortgage on property that poses a risk to health or safety of the occupant.

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 purpose of this notice is to solicit public comment on a revised Word version of HUD-52737, Indian Housing Plan/Annual Performance Report (IHP/APR), and two additional, automated versions of form: an Excel version and a version on HUD's Energy and Performance Information Center (EPIC) Web site. All three versions of the form request exactly the same information, but have different burdens due to the automated capabilities of the Excel and EPIC versions. These automated enhancements make the Excel and EPIC versions easier and faster to complete than the Word version. Respondents may elect to complete and submit to HUD either the Word, Excel, or EPIC versions; however, the Excel and EPIC versions are preferred because of their automated capabilities and reduced burden. The Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) requires recipients (tribes and tribally designated housing entities) to submit specific information that is necessary for the implementation and evaluation of low income housing programs using Indian Housing Block Grant funds (IHBG). Recipients of IHBG funds are required to submit the IHP/APR annually. In addition to the IHP/APR, each year recipients may submit a Formula Response Form (HUD-4117), and Formula Challenge Form (HUD-4119).

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. Builders who request changes to HUD's accepted drawings and specifications for proposed construction properties as required by homebuyers or determined by the builder use the information collection. The lender reviews the changes and amends the approved exhibits. These changes ma affect the value shown on the DUD commitment. HUD requires the builder to use form HUD-92577 to request changes for proposed substantial rehabilitation construction properties (203k program properties). HUD's collection of this information is for the purpose of ascertaining that HUD does not insure a mortgage on property that poses a risk to health or safety of the occupant.

This notice provides additional information to public housing agencies (PHAs) and members of the public about HUD's process for issuing scores under the Physical Condition Indicator of the PHAS under the PHAS Physical Condition Scoring Process notice published on February 23, 2011. In addition, this notice makes changes to the Dictionary of Deficiency Definitions (Dictionary). This notice follows a notice for comment that was published on October 13, 2011, and makes additional changes to the Dictionary as a result of public comments. Because some of these changes to the Dictionary affect the Item Weights and Criticality Levels for the inspectable items for which changes have been made, this notice republishes the entire Item Weights and Criticality Levels table as well as the entire Dictionary as Appendices. The process for issuing scores and the changes in this notice apply to the physical condition inspection process for both multifamily and public housing properties.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), is finalizing the proposed rule to amend its existing Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct, which are regulations for HUD officers and employees that supplement OGE's Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (Standards). To ensure a comprehensive and effective ethics program at HUD, and to address ethical issues unique to HUD, this final rule reflects statutory changes that were enacted subsequent to the codification of HUD's Supplemental Standards of Conduct regulation in 1996. Significantly, this final rule reflects the transfer of general regulatory authority over the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation from HUD to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). This final rule also revises definitions used in HUD's Supplemental Standards of Conduct to reflect updated titles and positions and clarifies existing prohibitions on certain financial interests and outside employment to better guide employee conduct, while upholding the integrity of HUD in the administration of its programs. Finally, this final rule more clearly describes the role and responsibility of the HUD Office of Inspector General in the agency's ethics program. This rule follows publication of a March 14, 2012, proposed rule and considers public comment on the proposed rule, but makes no changes at this final rule stage.

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. Pre-established communities, called Continuums of Care (CoC), will complete the Exhibit 1 of the Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance application which collects data about the CoC's strategic planning activities, performance, homeless populations, and data collection methods. This information will be scored using the rating factors listed in the NOFA to determine CoC rank and level of new and renewal funding. State and local governments, public housing authorities and nonprofit organizations will concurrently submit project proposals electronically. The information will be used for grantee selection and monitoring the administration of funds. Response to this request for information is required in order to receive the benefits to be derived.

This Notice announces the monthly per unit fee amounts for use in determining the on-going administrative fee for housing agencies administering the rental voucher and moderate rehabilitation programs, including Single Room Occupancy during Calendar Year (CY) 2012.

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 Narratives associated with Rural Capacity Building program will allow CPD to accurately assess the experience, expertise, and overall capacity of national organizations with expertise in rural housing, including experience working with rural housing organizations, local governments, and Indian tribes. HUD requires information in order to ensure the eligibility of Rural Capacity Building program applicants and proposals, to rate and rank applications, and to select applicants for grant awards. The Rural Capacity Building NOFA requires applicants to submit specific forms and narrative responses.

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. Information to be used to obtain more detailed technical information not contained in the original Continuum of Care Homeless Assistance Grant Application.

On March 8, 2012, HUD announced through notice in the Federal Register the partial implementation and request for comments on the full implementation of the statutorily authorized Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), which has two conversion components. RAD provides the opportunity to test the conversion of public housing and other HUD- assisted properties to long-term, project-based Section 8 rental assistance to achieve certain goals, including the preservation and improvement of these properties through access by public housing agencies (PHAs) and owners to private debt and equity to address immediate and long-term capital needs. RAD is also designed to test the extent to which residents have increased housing choices after the conversion, and the overall impact on the subject properties. The March 8, 2012 notice solicited public comment specifically on HUD's proposal for full implementation of the demonstration, but also invited comment on the policy and procedures that would govern partial implementation of the demonstration under the second component. This Federal Register notice published today announces full implementation of RAD, and the posting of the Final Program Notice (Final Program Notice, PIH-2012-32) on HUD's RAD Web site. As provided by the RAD statute, this notice addresses the requirement that the demonstration may proceed after publication of notice of its terms in the Federal Register. HUD's Final Program Notice takes into consideration the public comments received in response to HUD's March 8, 2012 solicitation of comments. This Notice summarizes the key changes made to the Program Notice (PIH 2012-18) issued on March 8, 2012. This notice also meets the RAD statutory requirement to publish waivers and alternative requirements authorized by the statute at least 10 days before they may take effect, which does not prevent the demonstration from proceeding immediately.

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, 2012, is 1\5/8\ 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, 2012, is 2\3/4\ 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.

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. The Public Housing lease and grievance procedures are a recordkeeping requirement on the part of Public Housing agencies (PHAs) as they are required to enter into and maintain lease agreements for each individual or family that occupies a Public Housing unit. Also, both PHAs and tenants are required to follow the protocols set forth in the grievance procedures for both an informal and formal grievance hearing.

Pursuant to the provision of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is providing notice of its intent to establish a new system of records for the Office of General Counsel (OGC) E-Discovery Management System (EDMS). The OGC discovery productions typically require the preservation, collection and analysis of massive emails, word processing documents, PDF files, spreadsheets, presentations, database entries, and other documents in a variety of electronic file formats, as well as paper records. EDMS is expected to improve significantly the efficiency of OGC's processing of records during the discovery and processing of litigation requests and will dramatically reduce the time spent on the document review and production process. The Department will be issuing a Final Rule on the exemptions elsewhere in the Federal Register concurrent with the publishing of this updated System of Records Notice.

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) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. This announcement lists 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 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.

On February 14, 2012, HUD posted a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) ``Transformation Initiative: Natural Experiments Grant Program'' on Grants.gov. The close date of the NOFA was March 29, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. A total of 6 applications were received. None of the applications met the requirements contained in the Notice of Funding Availability. Therefore, HUD is cancelling this funding opportunity.

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 request is for the clearance of on-site and telephone data collection from public housing agencies (PHAs) in support of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program Administrative Fee Study. The purpose of the study is to collect accurate information on the costs of administering the HCV program across a national sample of high- performing and efficient PHAs, and to use this information to develop a new administrative fee allocation formula for the HCV program. This request for clearance is the fourth OMB request in support of this study and is for data collection for the full national study. The prior OMB requests have covered the reconnaissance or research design phase of the study, pretesting the full national study design, and conducting additional reconnaissance visits to increase the study sample. For the current OMB request, the research team proposes three main types of data collection: (1) Measuring the time that HCV staff spend working on the various activities required to administer the program over a two- month period; (2) collecting information via interviews and document review on overhead costs, other costs related to HCV program administration that cannot be captured by measuring staff time, and ``transaction counts'' (the number of times an HCV program activity is completed over a specified period of time) in order to translate the staff time spent on that activity into a time per activity or cost per activity; and (3) a telephone survey of 130 small HCV programs (fewer than 250 vouchers) to understand how smaller agencies administer the HCV program effectively without the benefit of economies of scale that apply to larger programs. The results of the data collection will be used to generate estimates of total cost per activity per PHA and to build a multivariate regression model that tests how much the variation across PHAs in administrative costs can be explained by PHA, participant, and market characteristics. The results of the model will be used to inform the development of an administrative fee formula that is based on the average cost per activity and takes into account the most important factors that cause some HCV programs to be more costly to administer than others.