[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 222 (Monday, November 19, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65055-65056]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22610]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5118-N-06]


Notice of Extension of Information Collection for Public Comment; 
Consolidated Plan and Annual Performance Report

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of Extension of Information Collection for Public 
Comment Period.

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SUMMARY: The proposed extension of information collection requirements 
for Consolidated Planning for Community Planning and Development (CPD) 
programs 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: Comments Due Date: January 18, 2008.

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, Pamela 
Williams, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 
Street, SW, Room 7234, Washington, DC 20410.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Salvatore Sclafani, Office of Policy 
Development and Coordination, Office of Community Planning and 
Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20420; telephone number (202) 402-4364 
(this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department will submit the proposed 
extension of information collection to OMB for review, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35 as amended). 
As required under 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), HUD

[[Page 65056]]

and OMB are seeking comments from members of the public and affected 
agencies concerning the proposed collection of information to: (1) 
Evaluate whether the proposed extension of 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 submission of responses.
    Title of Proposal: Consolidated Plan & Annual Performance Report.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Uses: The 
information is needed to provide HUD with preliminary assessment of 
compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. A secondary need 
is informing citizens of the intended uses of formula grant funds and 
an evaluation of programmatic accomplishments.
    Agency Form Numbers (if applicable): The Department's collection of 
this information is in compliance with statutory provisions of the 
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 that requires 
the participating jurisdictions submit a Comprehensive Housing 
Affordability Strategy (Section 105), the 1974 Housing and Community 
Development Act, as amended, that requires states and localities to 
submit a Community Development Plan (Section 104 (b)(4) and Section 104 
(b)(m) and statutory provisions of these Acts that require states and 
localities to submit annual plans and reports for these formula grant 
programs.
    Members of the Affected Public: State and local governments 
participating in the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), 
the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program, the Emergency Shelter 
Grants (ESG) program, or the Housing Opportunities for Persons with 
AIDS/HIV (HOPWA) program.
    Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response and hours of response: Under a previous submission, OMB 
Control Number 2506-0117, the burden of meeting the regulatory 
requirements of Title I of the National Affordable Housing Act (NAHA) 
and the Housing and Community Development Act (HCDA) were assessed. 
That submission was approved until March 31, 2008. In 2002, the 
President's Management Agenda directed HUD to work with local 
stakeholders to streamline the consolidated plan, making it more 
results-oriented and useful to communities in assessing their own 
progress toward addressing the problems of low-income areas. The 
Department carefully considered ideas generated by several working 
groups that were established to explore alternative planning 
requirements and suggestions for improving the consolidated plan.
    A number of suggested alternative formats allowed jurisdictions to 
cross-reference other existing local documents and experiment with 
different visual formatting tools such as tables, graphs, bullet 
points, and appendices. The outcome was a streamlined, user-friendly 
document. In addition, the revision established some new requirements 
involving the development and implementation of an outcome measurement 
framework to meet local needs as well as outcomes that can be 
aggregated on a national basis. The net result did not result in a net 
change in burden hours.
    The paperwork estimates are as follows:

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                                                                     Number of     Frequency of     Total U.S.
                              Task                                  respondents      response      burden hours
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                        Consolidated Plan
Localities:
     Strategic Plan Development.........................           1,000               1         220,000
     Action Plan Development............................           1,000               1          112,00
States:
     Strategic Plan Development.........................              50               1          30,200
     Action Plan Development............................              50               1          18,700
Performance Report:
    Localities..................................................           1,000               1         162,000
    States......................................................              50               1          12,600
    *Abbreviated Strategy.......................................             100  ..............           8,200
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        Total...................................................  ..............  ..............         563,700
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    Status of the proposed information collection: Extension of 
previously approved collection for which approval is near expiration 
and the request for OMB's approval for three years. The current OMB 
approval expires March 31, 2008.

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

    Dated: November 9, 2007.
Nelson Breg[oacute]n,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development.
[FR Doc. E7-22610 Filed 11-16-07; 8:45 am]
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