Department of Housing and Urban Development January 13, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces that the Assessment Tool developed by HUD for use by Public Housing Agencies receiving assistance under the United States Housing Act of 1937 has completed the notice and comment process required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and approved. While this Assessment Tool has been approved, this Notice does not trigger the obligation of PHAs to conduct and submit an AFH in accordance with 24 CFR 5.160, as HUD has not yet provided PHAs with the data they will need. As HUD makes data available for certain PHAs, HUD will publish, in the Federal Register, a Notice announcing the availability of data for certain PHAs, triggering their obligation to conduct and submit an AFH, and will post such Notice on the HUD Exchange. HUD also anticipates that, at that time, the online User Interface will be available for use by PHAs. Until such time that PHAs are required to conduct and submit an AFH, HUD notes that PHAs must continue to comply with existing fair housing and civil rights requirements. This Assessment Tool, referred to as the PHA Assessment Tool, was modeled on the Local Government Assessment Tool, first approved by OMB on December 31, 2015 but with modifications to address the different public housing and Housing Choice Voucher operations that PHAs have compared to local governments, and how fair housing planning may be undertaken by PHAs in a meaningful manner. As with the Local Government Assessment Tool, the PHA Assessment Tool allows for collaboration with other PHAs. To reduce burden for PHAs, HUD has increased the threshold for the insert from QPHAs that have 550 units or less to PHAs with 1,250 or fewer combined public housing and HCV units. HUD has also committed to developing an additional Assessment Tool specifically for use by Qualified PHAs (QPHAs) who conduct and submit an individual AFH or collaborate with other QPHAs to conduct and submit a joint AFH to be issued in 2017. Therefore, this PHA Assessment Tool will be for use by PHAs submitting AFHs individually or jointly, and for collaborations among PHAs with 1,250 or fewer units and with PHAs with more than 1,250 units. In addition, to reduce burden further, this Assessment Tool includes an insert with streamlined questions for PHAs with 1,250 or fewer units to use if jointly submitting with PHA with more than 1,250 units. In addition, this Assessment Tool includes revised instructions based on public comments received during the 30-day PRA review that provide more guidance to PHAs in conducting the AFH, including how the regional analysis is to be prepared based on the location of a PHA's geographic region and program type. Through the notice and comment process required by the PRA, HUD made changes to the PHA Assessment Tool from the 30-day notice published in the Federal Register on August 23, 2016.

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