[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 136 (Wednesday, July 16, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42075-42126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-17992]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. 4817-N-09]


Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Family Report, MTW 
Family Report, and Reporting Discrepancy in Tenant-Reported Cross 
Income for Public Comments

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

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirements described 
below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review and approval, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. As 
a preliminary step, the Department, by this publication in the Federal 
Register, is soliciting public comments on the subject proposals.

DATES: Comments Due Date: September 15, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
these proposals. Comments should refer to the proposals by name and/or 
OMB Control number and should be sent to: Mildred M. Hamman, Reports 
Liaison Officer, Public and Indian Housing, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 4249, Washington, DC 
20410-5000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mildred M. Hamman, (202) 708-0614, 
extension 4128, for copies of the proposed forms and other available 
documents. (This is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the end of the comment period, the 
Department will submit the proposed information collection notice to 
the Office of Management and Budget for review, as required by the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended).
    This notice will address three related proposals to improve Public 
and Indian Housing (PIH) tenant data collection and verification: (1) 
Approval of the revised Form, HUD-50058, (2) approval to extend the 
Form HUD-50058 MTW (6/2001), and (3) authorization to collect 3 data 
elements pertaining to verified benefit payments from the Social 
Security Administration and 6 data elements pertaining to verified wage 
and unemployment insurance payments. When integrated, these three 
collection tools will allow HUD to gather more complete and accurate 
tenant information with which to monitor program performance.

Background

(1) Form HUD-50058

    The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) intends to 
revise Form HUD-50058 in a manner that will require changes to the HUD 
Form, HUD-50058 Module in the Public and Indian Housing Information 
Center (PIC), but will not require changes in software systems of 
public housing agencies or vendors supporting public housing agencies. 
HUD will maintain the current information collection burden until the 
changes in HUD's PIC system have been completed. Therefore, HUD seeks 
comments on the proposed revisions to the Form HUD-50058 and on the 
proposal to extend the existing Form HUD-50058 (6/2001) until the 
revisions are fully implemented.
    The Form HUD-50058 collects demographic and income data on 
residents participating in PIH's Public Housing, Section 8 Housing 
Choice Voucher, Section 8 Project Based Certificates, and Section 8 
Moderate Rehabilitation programs. Public housing agencies will transmit 
the form electronically to HUD at least annually for each household.
    The Department updated the currently approved Form HUD-50058 by 
removing obsolete and unnecessary data fields. These deletions will not 
require vendors to modify their software for reporting family data to 
the Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC)--the information 
system that collects electronic Form HUD-50058 data. Public housing 
agencies should not modify their software to reflect the deletions, but 
they are no longer required to send data in the fields that HUD has 
deleted. If public housing agencies submit data for the deleted fields 
using the file structure of the current form (Form HUD-50058 (6/2001)), 
the PIC system will ignore the data.
    HUD conducted a two-day industry consultation session with public 
housing agencies (PHA), trade organizations, vendors, and other 
interested parties in November 2002 to collect suggestions to improve 
the Form HUD-50058 and the reporting rate by public housing agencies to 
the Form 50058 Module in the Public and Indian Housing Information 
Center. The Department reviewed all of the suggestions gathered at the 
consultation session and incorporated them where possible into the 
revised Form HUD-50058, resulting in modest changes to the form, none 
of which require changes to vendor software. HUD continues to work 
collaboratively with the user community to produce an improved Form 
HUD-50058 that meets the needs of HUD, public housing agencies, and 
other users.

(2) Form HUD-50058 MTW

    HUD seeks comments on the proposal to extend the existing Form HUD-
50058 MTW (6/2001). The Form HUD-50058 MTW collects demographic and 
income data on residents participating in PIH's Public Housing, Section 
8 Housing Choice Voucher, Section 8 Project Based Certificates, and 
Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation programs and whose public housing 
agencies participate in the Moving-to-Work (MTW) program. MTW-PHA 
(i.e., public housing agencies participating in the Moving-to-Work 
demonstration program) will transmit the form electronically to HUD at 
least annually for each household.
    Form HUD-50058 MTW addresses the particular reporting requirements 
and constraints for public housing agencies that participate in the 
Moving-to-Work (MTW) demonstration program mandated by Section 206 of 
the 1996 HUD Appropriations Act. This information collection effort 
supports MTW program monitoring and evaluation, as required by 
Congress.

[[Page 42076]]

MTW-PHA will use the Form HUD-50058 MTW to collect data on MTW-families 
only. MTW-families include families who participate in any component of 
the MTW program. This includes families who receive self-sufficiency 
support services but pay rent under conventional program rules. Non-
MTW-families include families who reside in a MTW-PHA but do not 
participate in any component of the MTW program. MTW-PHA will continue 
to use the regular Form HUD-50058 for Non-MTW families.
    Public housing agencies that currently participate in the MTW 
demonstration program are:
    [sbull] Cambridge Housing Authority
    [sbull] Chicago Housing Authority
    [sbull] Delaware State Housing Authority
    [sbull] Greene Metropolitan Housing Authority
    [sbull] Housing Authority of the City of High Point
    [sbull] Keene Housing Authority
    [sbull] Lawrence-Douglas Housing Authority
    [sbull] Lincoln Housing Authority
    [sbull] Housing Authority of Louisville
    [sbull] Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community 
Development
    [sbull] Minneapolis Public Housing Authority
    [sbull] Housing Authority of the City of New Haven
    [sbull] Philadelphia Housing Authority
    [sbull] Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh
    [sbull] Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority
    [sbull] Housing Authority of Portland
    [sbull] San Antonio Housing Authority
    [sbull] San Diego Housing Commission
    [sbull] Housing Authority of the County of San Mateo
    [sbull] Seattle Housing Authority
    [sbull] Housing Authority of the County of Tulare
    [sbull] Housing Authority of the City of Vancouver
    Additional public housing agencies may join the MTW program.

(3) Systems to Monitor Reductions in Subsidy Payment Errors

    In response to a Presidential Management Initiative, HUD has 
established the Annual Performance Plan goal to reduce subsidy payment 
errors by 15% in 2003, 30% by 2004, and 50% by 2005. In support of this 
goal, the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) implemented an income 
verification component in the Tenant Assessment Sub-System (TASS), 
which assists public housing agencies (PHA) in the detection and 
prevention of program abuses. TASS performs this function by providing 
over the Internet the ability for public housing agencies to verify 
income from Social Security (SS) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) 
reported on the Form HUD-50058.
    Program Administrators of HUD's rental assistance programs need SS 
and SSI information to determine the amount of rental assistance that 
tenants are entitled to received. Currently, TASS uses an automated 
matching process to compare tenants' SS and SSI benefits from the 
Social Security Administration's (SSA) database to SS and SSI benefits 
reported to HUD by public housing agencies on the Form HUD-50058. This 
process runs every month and generates two online reports: the Monthly 
Benefit History, which contains a list of all tenants to be re-
certified, and the Income Discrepancy, which identifies tenants with 
discrepancies in SS and SSI benefit payments.
    While the current process delivers great value by providing timely 
information that may be used to detect and prevent program abuse, TASS 
does not now gather information necessary to measure the amount of 
benefits incorrectly reported to the PHA. The information collection 
covered by this request will correct this deficiency.
    HUD will also soon implement a complementary system to provide 
public housing agencies with an on-line source of a thirty-party-
verified wage and unemployment benefit payments. Public housing 
agencies can use the information to verify tenant-supplied income-
related information at the time of annual and interim re-examinations 
and to more accurately calculate the amount of rental assistance that 
tenants are entitled to receive. This will improve the accuracy of data 
reported to HUD on the Form HUD-50058.
    The new system will also allow HUD to gather information necessary 
to measure the amount of tenants' gross wage and unemployment benefit 
payments that are incorrectly reported to public housing agencies. HUD 
can use the data, combined with that collected through TASS, to 
generate statistics to measure progress towards the Annual Performance 
Plan (APP) goal to reduce both the number of errors and the estimated 
net annual subsidy overpayment by 50% over the next three years.

Highlight of the Changes

(1) Form HUD-50058

    The revised Form HUD-50058 reflects the initiative to remove 
obsolete and unnecessary lines from the form. The revised Form HUD-
50058 contains 27% fewer lines and three fewer pages. The items removed 
from the existing Form HUD-50058 include section 14 (Manufactured Home 
Owner Renting the Space) and section 16 (Indian Mutual Help). Some 
Welfare to Work (WtW) elements of section 17 (Family Self-Sufficiency 
(FSS)/Welfare to Work (WtW) Voucher Addendum), space for five family 
members in Section 3 (Household), reserved field, and references to 
Indian Housing and Pre-merger (Certificates and Vouchers were also 
removed. HUD also removed lines numbered and labeled as follows: (2e)--
``Date correction transmitted'', (2f)--``Repayment agreement?'', (2g)--
``Monthly amount of repayment'', (2n)--``Other special programs: Number 
03'', (2n)--``Other special programs: Number 04'', (2n))--``Other 
special programs: Number 05'', (2p)--``Use if instructed by HUD'', 
(3s)--Continued on an additional sheet?'', and (8u)--``Total annual 
travel cost to work/school (Indian Housing only)''.

(2) Form HUD-50058 MTW

    The Department did not make any change to the current version of 
the Form HUD-50058 MTW (6/2001). As many MTW-PHA have already modified 
their software to meet the requirements of the existing Form HUD-50058 
MTW (6/2001), and because the MTW-PHA will be required in the future to 
modified their software to accommodate the revised Form HUD-50058 when 
they transition out of the MTW program, the Department will not require 
the public housing agencies to revise their MTW-software at this time.

(3) Systems to Monitor Reductions in Subsidy Payment Errors

    This notice also covers the collection of 9 additional data 
elements that will allow HUD to monitor and report progress towards the 
Annual Performance Plan goal to reduce program abuses. First, HUD will 
collect 3 data elements to measure the amount of Social Security (SS) 
and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits that are incorrectly 
reported to public housing agencies. According to the proposed change, 
during the annual recertification meeting, public housing agencies will 
access the TASS reports to verify the SSA benefits amount. Once the 
amount of benefits is verified, users will be requested to enter 
information into two fields to report: the ``Amount initially reported 
by family'' and the ``Verified monthly benefit amount''. If there is a 
discrepancy, the user will be requested to select a code from a drop-
down list to explain the reason for the discrepancy: ``SSA Error'', 
``Tenant Error-Tenant Agrees with SSA Info'', or

[[Page 42077]]

``Tenant Error''. HUD will use this data to accurately measure and 
report the quantity of SS and SSI-related program abuse errors and the 
reasons for such discrepancies.
    Second, HUD proposes to collect 6 additional data elements through 
a complementary system to measure the amount of gross wages and 
unemployment benefits that are incorrectly reported to public housing 
agencies. During re-certifications, public housing agencies will access 
state wage and unemployment benefit data in the system to verify the 
tenant-reported income amounts. Once the income is verified, users will 
enter information in four fields of the software system to report: The 
``Gross wage amount initially reported by family'', the ``Verified 
monthly gross wage amount'', the ``Unemployment benefit amount 
initially reported by family'', and the ``Verified monthly unemployment 
benefit amount''. If there are discrepancies between the reported 
amounts and the verified amounts, the user will select a code from one 
or two drop-down lists to explain the reason for the discrepancy. The 
codes are ``State Error'', ``Tenant Error--Tenant Agrees with State 
Info'', or ``Tenant Error''. This data will be used to accurately 
measure and report the quantity of wage-related program errors and the 
reasons for such discrepancies. Together, the collection of these 9 
data elements will permit HUD to monitor and report progress towards 
the Annual Performance Plan goal to reduce program abuses by 50% over 
the next three years.
    This Notice also lists the following information:
    Title of Proposal: Family Report, MTW Family Report, Reporting 
Discrepancy in Tenant-Reported Gross Income.
    OMB Control Number(s): 2577-0083, 2577-0083 MTW.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: 
Collection of this information is authorized by the U.S. Housing Act of 
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437, et seq.), Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 
1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d), the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601-19), 
Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, and 
Section 206 of the 1996 HUD Appropriations Act. The information 
collected through the Form HUD-50058 and the Form HUD-50058 MTW will be 
used to monitor and evaluate Office of Public and Indian Housing 
programs including the Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice 
Voucher, Section 8 Project Based Certificate, Section 8 Moderate 
Rehabilitation, and Moving-to-Work programs. The information collected 
through the systems to monitor reductions in subsidy payment errors 
will be used to monitor and report progress towards the Department's 
Annual Performance Plan goal to reduce subsidy payment errors by 15% in 
2003, 30% by 2004, and the Presidential Management goal of reducing 
such errors by 50% by 2005.
    Members of public affected: Public housing agencies, State and 
local governments, individuals and households.
    Estimation of the total number of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, and hours of response: Initially, public housing agencies 
will need one half hour to input the data into each Form HUD-50058 or 
Form HUD-50058 MTW. After a one-year period, average input time should 
be reduced to 15 minutes per form. The reduction in time will be 
achieved by the pre-entering of information on the form that remains 
unchanged from the previous re-examination (i.e. tenant's name, 
tenant's date of birth, etc.). Public housing agencies that administer 
the Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program will require an additional 15 
minutes per form for completion of the information. Also, public 
housing agencies will need 1 minute to enter the SS and SSI 
information, and 1 minute to enter the gross wage and unemployment 
benefit information into payment subsidy monitoring systems.

                                              Estimated Burden Hours of the Proposed Information Collection
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                                                                Responses      Total
            Information collection                Number of        per         annual    Minutes per  Total hours           Regulatory reference
                                                 respondents    respondent   responses     response
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HUD-50058....................................           4,500        1,000    4,500,000           30    2,250,000  908.101, 960, 982, 984.
HUD-50058 MTW................................              22        9,008      198,176           30       99,088  908.101, 960, 982, 984.
Collections for Monitoring Reductions in                4,522        1,106    5,000,000            1       83,333  5.234, 5 Subpart F 68 FR 23753.
 Subsidy Payment Errors.
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    Projected One-Year Period: Hours per response will be reduced to 
0.25 for total burden hours of 1,125,000 for the Form HUD-50058 and 
49,544 for the Form HUD-50058 MTW.
    Status of the proposed information collection: Extension of a 
currently approved collection--Form HUD-50058 MTW; extension and 
revision of currently approved collection--Form HUD-50058; and new 
collection for monitoring reductions in subsidy payment errors.

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

    Dated: June 26, 2003.
Michael Liu,
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
BILLING CODE 4210-33-M

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[FR Doc. 03-17992 Filed 7-15-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-C