[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 190 (Monday, October 1, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 50007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-24435]



  Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 190 / Monday, October 1, 2001 / 
Notices  

[[Page 50007]]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4459-N-09]


Tenant-Based Section 8 Program: Procedures for Determining 
Baseline Unit Allocations, Verifying Unit Allocations, Accessing, 
Using, Restoration of and Recapture of Program Reserves and Transfers 
of Baseline Unit Allocations; Amendment

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On October 21, 1999, HUD published its final rule specifying 
the method HUD will use in allocating housing assistance available to 
renew expiring contracts with public housing agencies (PHAs) for 
Section 8 tenant-based housing assistance. As required by statute, the 
final rule was developed using negotiated rulemaking procedures. On 
April 19, 2000, HUD published a Federal Register notice, also developed 
during the negotiated rulemaking process, which provides guidance on 
several topics relating to the October 21, 1999 final rule, including 
the procedures for verifying unit allocations; the accessing, using, 
restoration of and recapture of program reserves in the Annual 
Contributions Contract (ACC) Reserve Account; and the transfer of 
baseline unit allocations. This notice amends the procedures described 
in the April 19, 2000 notice regarding the annual year-end assessment 
of a PHA's leasing rate and use of budget authority to determine 
whether HUD should transfer unexpended budget authority to other PHAs.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Dalzell, Office of Public and 
Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 
Seventh Street, SW, Room 4204, Washington, DC 20410; telephone (202) 
708-1380. (This is not a toll-free number.) Persons with hearing or 
speech impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the toll-
free Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On October 21, 1999 (64 FR 56882), HUD published its final rule 
specifying the method HUD will use in allocating housing assistance 
available to renew expiring contracts with public housing agencies 
(PHAs) for Section 8 tenant-based housing assistance. As required by 
statute, the final rule was developed using negotiated rulemaking 
procedures. On April 19, 2000 (65 FR 21088), HUD published a Federal 
Register notice, also developed during the negotiated rulemaking 
process. The April 19, 2000 notice provides guidance on several topics 
relating to the October 21, 1999 final rule, including the procedures 
for verifying unit allocations; the accessing, using, restoration of 
and recapture of program reserves in the Annual Contributions Contract 
(ACC) Reserve Account; and the transfer of baseline unit allocations.
    The voucher utilization standard established by the April 19, 2000 
notice provides that PHAs should assist a number of families equalling 
the number of units under ACC. The April 19, 2000 notice provides that 
annually, at the time of processing the PHA's year-end statement, HUD 
will assess each PHA's leasing rate and use of budget authority. Under 
the April 19, 2000 notice, the assessment excludes units for litigation 
and for on-schedule public housing relocation and replacement. The 
assessment also excludes units awarded to a PHA for which the ACC 
effective date is less than 8 months prior to the end of the PHA's 
fiscal year.

II. This Amendment

    This notice amends the procedures described in the April 19, 2000 
notice regarding the annual year end assessment of a PHA's leasing rate 
and use of budget authority to determine whether HUD should transfer 
unexpended budget authority to other PHAs. HUD has determined that the 
revision is necessary for purposes of administrative ease. So that HUD 
will not have to individually consider a PHA's progress in implementing 
its public housing demolition and disposition schedule when measuring 
voucher utilization, HUD has determined to keep the number of 
relocation and replacement vouchers in the number of units under ACC 
when determining the leasing rate. This means a PHA is expected to use 
those vouchers during the ACC term in the PHA fiscal year. If a PHA has 
not used vouchers obligated for public housing relocation and 
replacement because, under demolition or disposition plans, the 
vouchers are not needed until a future date, the PHA should ask its HUD 
financial analyst to revise the ACC effective date for those vouchers 
to an appropriate date in the future. Alternatively, the PHA may be 
able to use the relocation/replacement vouchers on an interim basis, in 
accordance with HUD procedures for interim use, provided the PHA can 
ensure that turnover vouchers will be available when needed for the 
required relocation and replacement. It is the PHA's responsibility to 
either use the relocation/replacement vouchers or to request a change 
in the ACC effective date for those vouchers.
    Under the April 19, 2000 notice, the year end assessment of the 
leasing rate excludes units awarded to a PHA for which the ACC 
effective date is less than 8 months prior to the end of the PHA's 
fiscal year. This amendment changes that provision to exclude units 
awarded to a PHA for which the ACC effective date is during the last 
PHA fiscal year. This change makes the assessment simpler, easier to 
understand and easier to program in a computer system.

III. Conforming Amendment to SEMAP Regulations

    Elsewhere in today's Federal Register, HUD is publishing an 
amendment to its Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) 
regulations at 24 CFR part 985. The amendment revises the SEMAP lease-
up indicator to conform to the policy established in the October 21, 
1999 final rule on renewal of expiring ACCs and in the April 19, 2000 
notice on unit allocations, and ensures a single consistent standard 
for lease-up of voucher assistance.
    Accordingly, in the notice entitled ``Tenant-Based Section 8 
Program: Procedures for Determining Baseline Unit Allocations, 
Accessing, Using, Restoration of and Recapture of Program Reserves and 
Transfers of Baseline Unit Allocations,'' 00-9733, beginning at 65 FR 
21088, in the issue of Wednesday, April 19, 2000, the following 
amendment is made:
    1. On page 21091, beginning in the second column, section VI.B. is 
revised to read as follows:

IV. Reduction of Adjusted Baseline Number of Units and Budget 
Authority

* * * * *
    B. In performing the assessment, HUD will exclude units (and their 
associated budget authority) awarded to the PHA for litigation purposes 
and for any funding increments whose effective date is during the 
fiscal year for which HUD is processing the year end statement.
* * * * *

    Dated: August 28, 2001.
Mel Martinez,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-24435 Filed 9-28-01; 8:45 am]
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