Department of Housing and Urban Development August 23, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In this notice, the General Counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development designates the Order of Succession for the Office of General Counsel. This Order of Succession supersedes all prior orders of succession for the Office of General Counsel, including the Order of Succession published on July 29, 2011.

This notice solicits public comment for a period of 30 days, consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) on the Local Government Assessment Tool, the assessment tool developed by HUD for use by local governments that receive Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), or Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) formula funding from HUD when conducting and submitting their own Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). The Local Government Assessment Tool is also available for use for AFHs conducted by joint and regional collaborations between: (1) Such local governments; (2) one or more such local governments with one or more public housing agency (PHA) partners; and (3) other collaborations in which such a local government is designated as the lead for the collaboration. HUD is committed to issuing four assessment tools for its program participants covered by the AFFH final rule. One assessment tool is for use by local governments (Local Government Assessment Tool) that receive assistance under certain grant programs administered by HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), as well as by joint and regional collaborations between: (i) Local governments; (ii) one or more local governments and one or more public housing agency (PHA) partners; and (iii) other collaborations in which such a local government is designated as the lead for the collaboration. The second tool is for use by States and Insular Areas (State and Insular Area Assessment Tool) and joint collaborating partner local governments and/ or PHAs (including Qualified PHAs) where the State is designated as the lead entity. The third assessment tool is for PHAs (including for joint collaborations among multiple PHAs). The fourth assessment tool is for Qualified PHAs (including for joint collaborations among multiple QPHAs). The next Federal Register Notice that will solicit public comment on the State and Insular Area Assessment Tool will solicit specific feedback from program participants as to how to best facilitate collaboration between program participants using this tool, including any changes to the tool or instructions that may be necessary to facilitate such collaborations. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the Local Government Assessment Tool under the PRA for a period of one year. This notice follows HUD's solicitation of public comment for a period of 60 days on the Local Government Assessment Tool that published on March 23, 2016, and takes into consideration the public comments received in response to the 60-day notice. The 60-day notice commenced the notice and comment process required by the PRA in order to obtain approval from OMB for the information collected by the Local Government Assessment Tool. This 30-day notice completes the public comment process required by the PRA. With the issuance of this notice, and following consideration of additional public comments received in response to this notice, HUD will seek renewal of approval from OMB of the Local Government Assessment Tool, with a renewal period of 3 years. In accordance with the PRA, the assessment tool will undergo this public comment process every 3 years to retain OMB approval.