[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 105 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27091-27092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13502]



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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-3917-N-82]


Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research; Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research Department of Housing and Urban Development.

ACTION: Notice of proposed information collection for public comment.

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SUMMARY: 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 of 1995. The 
Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

DATES: Comments are due by July 29, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name or OMB 
number and should be sent to: Reports Liaison Officer, Office of Policy 
Development and Research, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 
451 7th Street, SW., Room 8226, Washington, D.C. 20410.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jacqueline A. Kruszek, Program 
Analyst, 202-708-4370 ext. 141, Jacqueline__A.__K[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department will submit the proposed 
information collection to OMB for review, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended). This notice 
is soliciting comments from members of the public and affected agencies 
concerning the proposed collection of information to: (1) Evaluate 
whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (2) Evaluate the accuracy 
of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information; (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) Minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond; including 
through the use of appropriate automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology, e.g. permitting electronic submission 
of responses.
    Title of Proposal: National Survey of Rehabilitation Enforcement 
Practices
    Description of the Need for Information and Proposed Use: With the 
growing rehabilitation needs of the

[[Page 27092]]

existing building stock in the nation's cities, there is a need to 
examine compliance alternatives to the building rehabilitation process 
that maintain an equivalent level of safety, but are designed to 
encourage rehabilitation. Rehabilitation has many financial, 
environmental, and historical benefits for communities. For example, 
rehabilitation frequently allows cities to commit fewer financial 
resources to the development of city infrastructure, rehabilitation 
minimizes the problems of removal of building materials, and 
rehabilitation preserves buildings that are a part of the community's 
history and culture.
    In the 1970s and 80s, HUD undertook efforts to facilitate the 
process of altering the building regulations for housing 
rehabilitation. One step was the publication of The Rehabilitation 
Guidelines to begin examining equivalent compliance alternatives to the 
regulatory process for the nation's three model codes, state and local 
code agencies. Although the guidelines are not mandatory, they have had 
some impact on alteration of the regulatory process. However, the 
extent and the success of these changes are unknown. Some jurisdiction 
have adopted regulations that are designed to encourage rehabilitation 
while accepting compliance alternatives that maintain a level of safety 
equivalent to that specified in the building codes. The enforcement of 
these compliance alternatives often relies on the discretion of local 
code enforcement officials, which means that enforcement may vary 
between and within jurisdictions.
    At the May 1996 HUD sponsored symposium of The Status of Building 
Regulation for Housing Rehabilitation, there was a need expressed by 
participants to collect information on building code enforcement as it 
related to rehabilitation practices since this knowledge is not 
available. Specifically, the information is being collected (1) to 
identify differences in building code enforcement as it relates to 
rehabilitation and (2) to determine the success of compliance 
alternatives in encouraging rehabilitation. This information will 
provide data to further facilitate the process of altering 
rehabilitation enforcement practices nationwide.
    Agency Form Numbers, if Applicable: None.
    Members of Affected Public: A diverse set of individuals and 
organizations with roles in building rehabilitation may be affected by 
the information collection. Some examples are state and local agencies 
involved with housing rehabilitation code enforcement and community 
members who are responsible for the building rehabilitation plans. The 
range of affected individuals in code enforcement agencies vary from 
policy-makers of code regulations to the actual administrators of codes 
in communities. The community members affected range from building 
owners and developers to design professionals.
    Estimation of the Total Number of Hours Needed To Prepare the 
Information Collection Including Number of Respondents, Frequency of 
Response, and Hours of Response: Information will be collected by mail 
survey with at most 1,000 participants involved in the code enforcement 
process. The survey's will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. 
This means a total of 250 hours of response time for the information 
collection.
    Status of the Proposed Information Collection: Pending submission 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance.

    Authority: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 
44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended.

    Dated: May 21, 1996.
Michael A. Stegman,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy Development and Research.
[FR Doc. 96-13502 Filed 5-29-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-62-M