Department of Housing and Urban Development January 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) establishes a Housing Trust Fund (HTF) to be administered by HUD. The purpose of the HTF is to provide grants to State governments to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and very low-income families, including homeless families, and to increase homeownership for extremely low- and very low-income families. This rule establishes the regulations that will govern the HTF. HUD is issuing this rule as an interim rule. It is HUD's intention to open this interim rule for public comment to solicit comments once funding is available and the grantees gain experience administering the HTF program.

As a result of increased authority granted to HUD in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Pub. L. 113-235, approved December 16, 2014) (FY 2015 Appropriations Act) to convert public housing and moderate rehabilitation (Mod Rehab) program assistance under the first component of RAD for a total of 185,000 units, HUD will review all applications on the waitlist and begin issuing CHAPs in accordance with this notice to maximize the effectiveness of the proposed conversion of assistance. HUD welcomes comment on the update of the review process provided in this notice.

HUD has submitted the proposed information collection requirement described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act. The purpose of this notice is to allow for an additional 30 days of public comment.

The Department's Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) is proposing to create a new system of records, the ``RAD Program Evaluation Data Files.'' The Department's Office of PD&R is responsible for maintaining current information on housing needs, market conditions and existing programs, as well as conducting research on priority housing and community development issues. The principal purpose of the evaluation of the RAD Program is to allow the Department to assess and report to Congress on the performance of this program, which converts public housing units to new forms of ownership, focusing on: (1) Preserving the affordable housing availability of former public housing units; (2) the amount of private capital leveraged as a result of RAD conversions; and (3) the effect that RAD conversions have on unit residents. The new SORN allows the Department to track RAD program participants for the purpose of studying the impact of the RAD program on residents of impacted public housing properties. In order to study the residents as they move from the public housing development, it is necessary to collect their contact information at this point in the program implementation. In addition, the records collected through this evaluation represent HUD's effort to be responsive to its Congressional mandate to document and report the impact of the program. A more detailed description of the new system is contained in this notice.

On July 19, 2013, HUD published a proposed rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. The comment period for the proposed rule closed on September 17, 2013. HUD received over 1,000 public comments in response to the proposed rule. While many commenters expressed outright support for HUD's proposal, and other commenters expressed outright opposition, the majority of the commenters provided valuable feedback and suggestions on HUD's proposal. One area of concern expressed by many commenters was the ability of program participants, those that are small or those that receive small grants or allocations of HUD funds, to prepare and submit the Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) in accordance with the process set out in HUD's proposed rule, and by the proposed submission deadline. Commenters comprised of State jurisdictions or their representatives also expressed concern about the ability to complete an AFH, which they commented did not take into consideration the unique role of States. These commenters stated that HUD's proposed AFH was tailored to entitlement jurisdictions. In response to these comments, HUD is considering providing certain HUD program participantsStates, Insular Areas, qualified PHAs, jurisdictions receiving a small Community Development Block (CDBG) grant (which is based on a percentage of the CDBG formula appropriation, as described in this notice)with the option of submitting their first AFH at a date later than would otherwise be required for program participants that are not States or Insular Areas, not qualified PHAs, and are not grantees receiving a small CDBG grant, as proposed to be defined in this notice. This supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking therefore re-opens the public comment period on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing proposed rule for an additional 30 days solely to seek comment on these specific issues. HUD is not soliciting comment on any other issues related to HUD's July 19, 2013, proposed rule.

This proposed rule would amend existing project-based Section 8 regulations related to Management and Occupancy Reviews (MORs) and Vacancy Payments for the following programs: the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) Programs for New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation, State Housing Agencies, New Construction financed under Section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949, the Loan Management Set-Aside Program, the HAP Program for the Disposition of HUD-Owned Projects, and the Section 202/8 Program. This rule would also amend the existing Section 162 regulations related to Vacancy Payments for the Section 202 Projects. Under this rule, MORs would be conducted in accordance with a schedule published in the Federal Register and subject to public comment. The first such schedule is being published for comment concurrently with this proposed rule, and can be found elsewhere in today's Federal Register. HUD is proposing this change in order to reduce the frequency of MORs, thereby minimizing interruptions in property operations created by onsite reviews, preserving staff time, and reducing costs. In addition, this proposed rule would reduce the vacancy payments made to the owner by HUD for a vacant assisted unit.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda for a teleconference meeting of the MHCC, General Subcommittee. The teleconference meeting is open to the public. The agenda provides an opportunity for citizens to comment on the business before the MHCC.

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

HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection described below. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment.

HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection described below. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment.

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