[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 230 (Monday, December 1, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67201-67202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-29748]



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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4818-N-13]


Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment: 
Project Rent Surveys for Update of Section 8 Fair Market Rents

AGENCY: Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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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. The Department 
is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

DATES: January 30, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB 
Control 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, DC 20410.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marie Lihn, Economic and Market 
Analysis Division, Office of Policy Development and Research, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 
8222, Washington, DC 20410; telephone (202) 708-0614; e-mail [email protected]. This is not a toll-free number. Copies of the 
proposed forms and other available documents submitted to OMB may be 
obtained from Ms. Lihn.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Housing and Urban 
Development will submit the proposed information collection package 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 the use of appropriate automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.
    This Notice also lists the following information:
    Title of Proposal: Project Rent Survey for Update of Section 8 Fair 
Market Rents.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: HUD 
is testing a new methodology to determine if it can be used in place of 
telephone random digit dialing (RDD) surveys of individuals. HUD 
currently contracts with a private company to conduct two types of RDD 
surveys: (1) Approximately 50 individual fair market rent (FMR) areas 
are surveyed every year to test the accuracy of their FMRs; (2) In 
addition, 20 RDD surveys are conducted every year to provide updating 
factors for FMRs not surveyed individually and for Annual Adjustment 
Factors (AAFs). These surveys are conducted in the non-metropolitan 
portions of all 10 HUD regions, and in the 10 metropolitan portions of 
the regions that do not have their own Consumer Price Index (CPI) 
surveys. While RDD telephone surveys have been used for several years 
to adjust FMRs, these surveys are becoming more difficult and more 
costly to conduct. This survey of project rents would replace both the 
regional and area telephone RDDs with surveys of approximately 30 
standard rental projects in 200 areas. These project surveys would 
provide regional change factors for updating the FMRs and specific 
change factors will be calculated for FMR areas where the Section 8 
program is not working properly. It is unlikely than one-fourth of the 
200 areas would ever have to be surveyed in a given year, so this 
request is being made on this maximum amount of 50 areas. In the study 
of project rents currently underway, using only purchased data, it is 
clear that data can be purchased for most metropolitan areas.
    The survey will be conducted in the field by qualified rental 
appraisers with the project management staff. In each area, 30 rental 
projects will be surveyed and questions will cover rent, age of 
structure, utilities, number and size of units, and recent changes to 
the area. The survey form has 31 questions, but the appraiser should be 
able to answer almost one-third by site inspection. The interview with 
the resident manager should take up, at most 7 minutes to complete.
    This new method would be a fast, inexpensive way to update Section 
8 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). This new method would only provide 
estimates of annual rent changes, not actual rents, as the current area 
RDD survey does. Section 8(C)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 
1937 requires the Secretary to publish Fair Market Rents (FMRs) 
annually to be effective on October 1 of each year. FMRs are used for 
the Section 8 Rental Certificate Program (including space rentals by 
owners of manufactured homes under that program); the Moderate 
Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program; housing assisted under 
the Loan Management and Property Disposition programs; payment 
standards for the Rental Voucher program; and any other programs whose 
regulations specify their use.
    Members of affected public: Managers of rental projects.
    Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, and hours of response:

 
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                                                     Number of        Average
                 Type of survey                     interviews     minutes each    Total minutes    Total hours
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Field Interviews................................           1,500               7          10,500           1,313
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    Status of the proposed information collection: Pending OMB 
approval.

    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35, as amended; and section 8(C)(1) of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937.

    Dated: November 17, 2003.
Darlene F. Williams,
General Deputy Assistant, Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research.
[FR Doc. 03-29748 Filed 11-28-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-62-M