[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 41 (Monday, March 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9442-9443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-5298]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4123-N-03]


Public Housing/Section 8 Moving to Work Demonstration Program; 
Extension of Application Deadline

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian 
Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On December 18, 1996, HUD published a notice inviting public 
housing agencies and Indian housing authorities to submit applications 
for the Public and Indian Housing/Section 8 Moving to Work 
demonstration program (``MTW''). The December 18, 1996 notice set an 
application submission deadline for MTW of March 18, 1997.
    This notice extends the MTW application submission deadline from 
March 18, 1997 to May 19, 1997. The deadline is being extended to give 
public housing agencies and Indian housing authorities the time 
necessary to adequately prepare their applications, and, in particular, 
to allow sufficient time for a thorough and constructive planning 
process, including a public hearing. This notice also provides 
clarification on several provisions of the December 18, 1996 notice.
    Except for the extension of the application submission deadline 
made by this notice, and subject to the clarifications made by this 
notice, all of the requirements of the December 18, 1996 notice remain 
in effect.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 3, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen I. Holmquist, Policy 
Development Advisor, or Beth M. Cooper, Program Analyst, Office of 
Public and Indian Housing, Room 4116, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410, telephone (202) 
708-0713. For hearing or speech impaired persons, this number may be 
accessed via TTY by contacting the Federal Information Relay Service at 
1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

(1) General

    The Public and Indian Housing/Section 8 Moving to Work 
demonstration program (``MTW'') offers public housing agencies and 
Indian housing authorities (HAs) the opportunity to design and test 
innovative housing and self-sufficiency strategies for low-income 
families by permitting HAs to combine funds from several HUD programs 
into a single pool and by exempting HAs from existing public and Indian 
housing and Section 8 certificate and voucher program rules, as 
approved by HUD.
    HUD is authorized to select up to 30 HAs that administer the public 
and Indian housing and Section 8 programs to participate in MTW, which 
was authorized by section 204 of the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions 
and Appropriations Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321). The 
statutory purposes of MTW are to give HAs the flexibility to design and 
test various approaches for providing and administering housing 
assistance that reduce cost and achieve greater cost effectiveness; 
provide work incentives to promote resident self-sufficiency; and 
increase housing choices for low-income families.
    To achieve these goals, each selected HA will have considerable 
flexibility in determining how to use Federal funds, as long as the HA 
meets specified criteria. Furthermore, the selected HAs will be 
permitted to combine funds from the public and Indian housing operating 
and modernization programs, and from the Section 8 tenant-based rental 
assistance program, for uses which meet the purposes of the 
demonstration. Funds used in the demonstration (whether combined or 
not) are generally not subject to statutory and regulatory requirements 
of the public and Indian housing and Section 8 programs.
    On December 18, 1996 (61 FR 66855), HUD published a notice inviting 
applications for MTW. That notice described the application submission 
requirements and the criteria to be used by HUD in evaluating 
applications. It also established an application submission deadline of 
March 18, 1997.

(2) Clarifications

    Several provisions of the December 18, 1996 notice require 
clarification, as follows:
    (a) For HA's that are not subject to PHMAP because they only 
administer the Section 8 program, HUD will determine the HA's score for 
evaluation criterion 1, ``HA Management Performance'', using objective 
criteria that assess HA management capability based on relative 
performance in meeting the requirements of the Section 8 program;
    (b) The December 18, 1996 notice advised HAs to assume a 3-year 
term for their MTW plans. HUD expects that the actual term of each HA's 
demonstration will be stated in the MTW Agreement negotiated between 
HUD and the HA following the HA's selection for MTW. No MTW proposal 
will be implemented

[[Page 9443]]

until the MTW Agreement is executed. HUD invites HAs to state and 
justify, in their proposed MTW schedules, the minimum period of time 
which they believe is necessary to implement their MTW plans;
    (c) The December 18, 1996 notice recognized that HA plans might not 
be finalized by the application deadline, and requested that HAs 
identify any outstanding issues and the process and schedule for 
resolving those issues. In other words, HUD does not expect all MTW 
plans to be ready for implementation at the time HAs are selected for 
MTW. Rather, at this stage of the demonstration, HUD expects an HA's 
MTW plan to be conceptually and analytically sound in that it 
identifies local needs and explains how the HA believes its assets and 
resources can be deployed to most effectively and efficiently address 
those needs. In scoring applications under evaluation criterion 3, 
``Quality and Feasibility of MTW Plan'', HUD will reward plans that 
demonstrate an HA's capacity to operate in a deregulated program 
environment, where the HA has broad discretion to use Federal funds 
flexibly and creatively based on its understanding of local conditions. 
The level of detail provided in an HA's plan will help HUD to assess 
the HA's capacity in that regard. At the same time, HUD encourages HA's 
to be creative and to make full use of the broad local discretion that 
this demonstration permits. Accordingly, HAs should provide as much 
detail as they can at this point. HUD seeks a wide variety of 
approaches in making selections for MTW, and does not expect plans that 
are highly innovative (in that they depart significantly from current 
program rules) to have as much detail as plans that are less 
innovative. However, as the December 18, 1996 notice provided, where a 
plan lacks detail, HUD does expect an HA to describe the process and 
schedule by which the HA will resolve the outstanding issues.

(3) Extension of Submission Deadline

    For several reasons, HUD has found that it is in the best interests 
of the demonstration to allow HAs additional time to prepare their 
applications. Because the notice appeared in the Federal Register 
during the winter holiday season, some HAs were not aware that it had 
been published until several weeks after the application period had 
already begun to run. Further, HUD has concluded that additional time 
would be helpful so that HAs can give proper notice of and hold the 
required public hearing, and to otherwise conduct a thorough and 
constructive planning process in their communities. Most importantly, 
HUD recognizes that the degree of programmatic innovation which MTW 
allows, and which HUD hopes to encourage through this demonstration 
program, may require a level of deliberation and analysis that the 
original 90-day application period does not permit. Extending the 
deadline will give HAs more time to conduct this process, resulting in 
higher-quality applications and a more valuable demonstration program.

    Dated: February 25, 1997.
Kevin Emanuel Marchman,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
[FR Doc. 97-5298 Filed 2-27-97; 2:41 pm]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-P