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

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 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.

On October 25, 2013 at 78 FR 64145 HUD published a 30 day notice of proposed information collection. This notice replaces the notice published on October 25, 2013. 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

This final rule combines and streamlines the former legacy public housing modernization programs, including the Comprehensive Grant Program (CGP), the Comprehensive Improvement Assistance Program (CIAP), and the Public Housing Development Program (which encompasses mixed-finance development), into the Capital Fund Program (CFP). This rule defines qualified PHAs, which are not required to file annual plans. The rule expands HUD's current requirement that a Public Housing Authority (PHA) submit a physical needs assessment (PNA) to include small PHAs as well as large PHAs, but provides small PHAs additional time to plan for and implement this requirement. The rule allows PHAs to request a total development cost (TDC) exception for integrated utility management, capital planning, and other capital and management activities that promote energy conservation and efficiency, including green construction and retrofits, which include windows; heating system replacements; wall insulation; site-based generation; advanced energy savings technologies, including renewable energy generation; and other such retrofits. The rule also makes changes to replacement housing factor funds and the threshold for management improvements. Because this rule streamlines programs, several formerly separate regulations are eliminated with the implementation of this rule.

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

Section 8(c)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (USHA) requires the Secretary to publish FMRs periodically, but not less than annually, adjusted to be effective on October 1 of each year. This notice publishes the FMRs for the Housing Choice Voucher, the Moderate Rehabilitation, the project-based voucher, and any other programs requiring their use. Today's notice provides final FY 2014 FMRs for all areas that reflect the estimated 40th and 50th percentile rent levels trended to April 1, 2014. The FY 2014 FMRs are based on 5- year, 2007-2011 data collected by the American Community Survey (ACS). These data are updated by one-year recent-mover 2011 ACS data for areas where statistically valid one-year ACS data are available. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rent and utility indexes are used to further update the data from 2011 to the end of 2012. HUD continues to use ACS data in different ways according to the statistical reliability of rent estimates for areas of different population sizes and counts of rental units. The final FY 2014 FMR areas are based on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metropolitan area definitions as updated through December 1, 2009 and include HUD modifications that were first used in the determination of FY 2006 FMR areas. The February 28, 2013 OMB Area definition update has not been incorporated in the FMR process due to the timing of the release and the availability of ACS data. HUD will work toward incorporating these new area definitions into the Proposed FY 2015 FMR calculations; however, this is dependent on the availability of ACS data conforming to the new area definitions. The final FY 2014 FMRs in this notice reflect several updates from FY 2013 to the methodology used to calculate FMRs. Specifically, HUD has updated the information used to calculate FMRs in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico FMRs are now based on 2007-2011 Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) data (the PRCS is a part of the ACS program). Moreover, HUD is using Consumer Price Index data calculated specifically for Puerto Rico rather than using South Census Region CPI data. In response to comments on the proposed notice, HUD has also adjusted the FMRs for Puerto Rico based on validated information related to utility rates. HUD will continue to refine its methodology for incorporating validated utility rates into FMR calculations, as appropriate, in future notices. The remaining methodology used to calculate FMRs remains the same, including the use of the annually updated trend factor calculation methodology. This trend factor for the FY 2014 FMRs is based on the change in national gross rents from 2006 to 2011. The FMR for Danbury, CT was updated to incorporate the results of a survey. This survey was not available in time for inclusion in the proposed FY 2014 FMRs and results in an increase.

This notice announces the availability on HUD's Web site of the annual factors for 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) 2013.

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

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.

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.

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.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, Commission, FHFA, and HUD (the agencies) are seeking comment on a joint proposed rule (the proposed rule, or the proposal) to revise the proposed rule the agencies published in the Federal Register on April 29, 2011, and to implement the credit risk retention requirements of section 15G of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15. U.S.C. 78o-11), as added by section 941 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 15G generally requires the securitizer of asset-backed securities to retain not less than 5 percent of the credit risk of the assets collateralizing the asset-backed securities. Section 15G includes a variety of exemptions from these requirements, including an exemption for asset-backed securities that are collateralized exclusively by residential mortgages that qualify as ``qualified residential mortgages,'' as such term is defined by the agencies by rule.

This rule streamlines the FHA financial statement reporting requirements for lenders and mortgagees who are supervised by federal banking agencies and whose consolidated assets do not meet the thresholds set by their supervising federal banking agencies for submission of audited financial statements (currently set at $500 million in consolidated assets). HUD's regulations currently require all supervised lenders and mortgagees to submit annual audited financial statements as a condition of FHA lender approval and recertification. Through this rule, in lieu of the annual audited financial statements, small supervised lenders and mortgagees would be required to submit their unaudited financial regulatory reports that align with their fiscal year ends and are required to be submitted to their supervising federal banking agencies. Small supervised lenders and mortgagees would only be required to submit audited financial statements if HUD determines that the supervised lenders or mortgagees pose heightened risk to the FHA insurance fund. This rule does not impact FHA's annual audited financial statements submission requirement for nonsupervised and large supervised lenders and mortgagees. The rule also does not impact those supervised lenders and mortgagees with consolidated assets in an amount that requires that lenders or mortgagees submit audited financial statements to their respective supervising federal banking agencies. Additionally, this final rule, consistent with the proposed rule, makes three technical changes to current regulations regarding reporting requirements for FHA-approved supervised lenders and mortgagees.

This notice establishes operating cost adjustment factors (OCAFs) for project based assistance contracts for eligible multifamily housing projects having an anniversary date on or after February 11, 2014. OCAFs are annual factors used to adjust Section 8 rents renewed under section 524 of the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 (MAHRA).

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.

HUD's Housing Counseling Program provides, through HUD- approved counseling agencies and state housing finance agencies, including their affiliates and branches, counseling to individuals seeking information about financing, maintaining, renting, or owning a home. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act amended the housing counseling statute to improve the effectiveness of the program by, among other things, requiring that the entities and individual counselors be certified by HUD as competent to provide such services, and prohibiting distribution of grant funds to agencies found in violation of Federal election laws or who have employees found in violation of Federal election laws, and requiring the reimbursement of grant funds for misuse of funds. This proposed rule would revise HUD's Housing Counseling Program regulations to adopt the new requirements applicable to counseling agencies and individual counselors, and the use of grant funds.

HUD (or Department), with the concurrence of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), amends its Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct, which are regulations for HUD officers and employees that supplement the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (Standards) issued by OGE. In its final rule published on August 6, 2012, HUD did not comprehensively describe an exception to the provision that prohibits Department employees from directly or indirectly receiving, acquiring, or owning certain financial interests that may be subsidized by the Department. This final rule corrects this omission and establishes that HUD employees may not hold a financial interest in any grant, loan, cooperative agreement, or other form of assistance provided by the Department, including the insurance or guarantee of a loan, except to the extent that such interest represents assistance on the employee's principal residence. This final rule codifies current policy and practice.