Department of Housing and Urban Development March 5, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This Notice advises the public of the initial allocation of $5,400,000,000 of Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery (CDBG-DR) funds appropriated by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013 (Pub. L. 113-2) for the purpose of assisting recovery in the most impacted and distressed areas declared a major disaster due to Hurricane Sandy. This Notice describes applicable waivers and alternative requirements, relevant statutory provisions for grants provided under this Notice, the grant award process, criteria for plan approval, and eligible disaster recovery activities.

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. This request identifies the estimated reporting burden associated with the reporting of CDBG-R assisted activities as they are completed and closing out the CDBG-R program. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) appropriated $1 Billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to states and local governments that received CDBG funding in Fiscal Year 2008 to carry out, on an expedited basis, eligible activities under the CDBG program. The purpose of the CDBG-R funding was to stimulate the economy through measures that modernized the Nation's infrastructure, improved energy efficiency, and expanded educational opportunities and access to health care. All CDBG-R funds were required to be expended by September 30, 2012. Any CDBG-R funds remaining after that date were recaptured by HUD and returned to Treasury. The Recovery Act did not specify a requirement regarding the date for completion of CDBG-R assisted activities, although grantees were required to give preference to activities that could be started and completed expeditiously. While the CDBG-R expenditure deadline has passed, all CDBG-R assisted activities have not been completed. New activities were added over time when grantees amended their 2008 substantial amendments to add such activities because previously identified activities came in under budget, were identified as imprudent, or did not meet the purposes of the Recovery Act. Once CDBG-R assisted activities meet a national objective and are physically complete, grantees may proceed in closing out their CDBG-R programs. Grantees must complete their final reports in federalreporting.gov before closing out their CDBG-R grants. HUD expects grantees to be ready to begin closing out their grants by March 31, 2013. Once final reports are completed in federalreporting.gov, grantees may begin the process of closing out their CDBG-R grants. This process requires grantees to submit their final federalreporting.gov report and prepare and submit a CDBG-R Program Grantee Closeout Certification, a CDBG-R closeout checklist, Grant Closeout Agreement, and a Federal Financial Report (SF 425) to local HUD Field Offices. The Recovery Act requires that not later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter, each recipient that received recovery funds from a federal agency shall submit a report to that agency that contains: (1) The total amount of recovery funds received from that agency; (2) the amount of recovery funds received that were expended or obligated to projects or activities; and (3) a detailed list of all projects or activities for which recovery funds were expended or obligated, including (A) the name of the project or activity; (B) a description of the project or activity; (C) an evaluation of the completion status of the project or activity; (D) an estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained by the project or activity; and (E) for infrastructure investments made by State and local governments, the purpose, total cost, and rationale of the agency for funding the infrastructure investment with funds made available under the Recovery Act and name of the person to contact at the agency if there are concerns with the infrastructure investment. An update of the status of activities identified here must be reported quarterly in federalreporting.gov. In addition, not later than 30 calendar days after the end of each calendar quarter, each agency that made Recovery Act funds available to any recipient shall make the information in reports submitted publicly available by posting the information on a Web site. Grantees that have ongoing CDBG-R assisted activities are required to continue reporting quarterly on those activities until they are completed. Information must be submitted using HUD's IDIS system and in federalreporting.gov. Pursuant to Section 1512 of the Recovery Act, CDBG-R grantees must enter the data into IDIS on a quarterly basis for generation of reports by HUD or other entities. In addition, grantees are required to submit reports in federalreporting.gov on a quarterly basis. Grantees will report in IDIS and federalreporting.gov for CDBG-R assisted activities, recordkeeping requirements, and reporting requirements. The Recovery Act imposes additional reporting requirements including, but not limited to, information on the environmental review process, the expected completion of the activity, the type of activity, and the location of the activity.

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 mission of HUD's Healthy Homes Program is ``To reduce health and safety hazards in housing in a comprehensive and cost effective manner, with a particular focus on protecting the health of children and other sensitive populations in low income households.'' (Leading Our Nation to Healthier Homes: The Healthy Homes Strategic Plan, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control, 2010, p. 7.) An evaluation and summarization of grants awarded under the program was last completed in 2005 (``An Evaluation of HUD's Healthy Homes Initiative: Current Findings and Outcomes,'' Healthy Housing Solutions, March 5, 2007). The objectives of the Healthy Homes Demonstration (HHD) grants that will be evaluated through the effort described in this notice include: Carrying out direct remediation where housing-related hazards may contribute to injury or illness, with a focus on children's health; Delivering education and outreach activities to protect children from housing-related hazards; and Building capacity to increase the probability that aspects of grant-supported Healthy Homes programs are sustained.

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. FHA insurance is an important source of mortgage credit for low and moderate-income borrowers and neighborhoods. Providing assistance, as needed, to enable families to cure their delinquencies and retain their homes stabilizes neighborhoods that might otherwise suffer from deterioration and problems associated with vacant and abandoned properties. Avoidance of foreclosure and the resultant costs also serve to further stabilize the mortgage insurance premiums charged by FHA and the Federal budget receipts generated from those premiums. The information collection request for OMB review seeks to extend OMB 2502- 0589, a currently established OMB collection, for an additional three years. Agency form numbers, if applicable: HUD-1 Settlement Statement, HUD-27011 Single Family Application for Insurance Benefits, HUD-90035 Information/Disclosure, HUD-90041 Request for Variance, Pre-foreclosure sale procedure, HUD-90045 Approval to Participate, HUD-90051 Sale Contract Review, HUD-90052 Closing Worksheet, HUD-PA-426 How to Avoid Foreclosure.

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 describes the reporting and recordkeeping requirements of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). The data required includes program level, project level and beneficiary level information collected and reported on by NSP2 grantees. The data identifies who benefits from the NSP2 program and how statutory requirement are satisfied. The respondents are State, local government, non-profit and consortium applicants.