[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 37 (Monday, February 25, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10046-10048]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3516]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5130-N-19]


Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of Matching Program Between the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS): Matching Tenant Data in Assisted 
Housing Programs

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a recurring computer matching program between HUD and 
HHS.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act 
of 1988, as amended, HUD is providing notice of its intent to conduct a 
recurring computer matching program involving comparisons of 
information provided by participants in any authorized HUD rental 
housing assistance program under the independent sources of income 
information available through the National Directory of New Hires 
(NDNH) maintained by HHS. HUD previously conducted ``two'' separate 
matching programs with HHS. The first matching program was conducted 
between HHS and HUD's Public and Indian Housing (PIH) Program, which 
first began in September 2005. The second matching program was 
conducted between HHS and HUD's Office of Housing (Housing), 
Multifamily Housing Programs, which first began in December 2007. This 
notice supersedes the previous notices and combines the two existing 
matching programs into one. This update does not change the original 
scope of the existing matching program.

DATES: Effective Date: Computer matching is expected to begin March 26, 
2008, unless comments are received which result in a contrary 
determination, or 40 days from the date a computer matching agreement 
is signed, whichever is later.
    Comments Due Date: March 26, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Room 
10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should refer to the 
above docket number and title. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not 
acceptable. A copy of each communication submitted will be available 
for public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at 
the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For Privacy Act: Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, contact the Departmental Privacy Act Officer, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 4156, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 402-8094. For 
program information: Office of Public and Indian Housing, contact 
Nicole Faison, Director of the Office of Public Housing Programs, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 4226, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 708-0744; and 
for the Office of Housing, contact Gail Williamson, Director of the 
Housing Assistance Policy Division, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 6138, Washington, DC 20410, 
telephone number (202) 402-2473. (These are not toll-free numbers.) A 
telecommunications device for hearing- and speech-impaired individuals 
(TTY) is available at (800) 877-8339 (Federal Information Relay 
Service).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The matching program will be carried out 
only to the extent necessary to: (1) Verify the employment and income 
of individuals participating in PIH and Multifamily Housing Programs to 
correctly determine the amount of their rent and assistance, and (2) 
After removal of personal identifiers, to conduct analyses of the 
employment and income reporting of individuals participating in HUD's 
rental housing assistance programs. HUD will make the results of the 
computer matching program available to public housing agencies (PHAs), 
private housing owners and management agents (O/As) administering HUD 
rental assistance programs to enable them to verify employment and 
income and correctly determine the rent and assistance levels for 
individuals participating in those programs, and contract 
administrators (CAs) overseeing and monitoring O/A operations. This 
information also may be disclosed to the HUD Inspector General (HUD/IG) 
and the Attorney General in detecting and investigating potential cases 
of fraud, waste, and abuse of the above named programs. HUD and its 
third party administrators (PHAs, O/As, and CAs) will use this matching 
authority to reduce or eliminate improper assistance payments in HUD's 
rental housing assistance programs.
    The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act (CMPPA) of 1988, 
an amendment to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. Sec. 552a), OMB's 
guidance on this statute entitled ``Final Guidance Interpreting the 
Provisions of Public Law 100-503,'' and OMB Circular No. A-130 requires 
publication of notices of computer matching programs. Appendix I to 
OMB's Revision of Circular No. A-130, ``Transmittal Memorandum No. 4, 
Management of Federal Information Resources,'' prescribes Federal 
agency responsibilities for maintaining records about individuals. In 
accordance with the CMPPA and Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A-130, 
copies of this notice are being provided to the Committee on Government 
Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives, the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and OMB's 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

I. Authority

    This matching program is being conducted pursuant to sections 3003 
and 13403 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 
103-66, approved August 10, 1993); section 542(b) of the 1998 
Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 105-65); section 904 of the Stewart B. 
McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1988 (42 U.S.C. 3544); 
section 165 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 (42 
U.S.C. 3543); the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1701-1750g); the 
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437-1437z); section 101 
of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s); 
the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 
1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.); and the Quality Housing and Work 
Responsibility Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(f)). The Housing and 
Community Development Act of 1987 authorizes HUD to require applicants 
and participants in HUD-administered programs involving rental housing 
assistance to disclose to HUD their social security numbers (SSNs) as a

[[Page 10047]]

condition of initial or continuing eligibility for participation in the 
programs.
    Section 217 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 
108-199, approved January 23, 2004) authorizes HUD to provide to HHS 
information on persons participating in any programs authorized by:
    (i) The United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.);
    (ii) Section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q);
    (iii) Section 221(d)(3), 221(d)(5) or 236 of the National Housing 
Act (12 U.S.C. 17151(d) and 1715z-1);
    (iv) Section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); or
    (v) Section 101 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 
(12 U.S.C. 1701s).
    HHS shall then compare this information provided by HUD with data 
contained in the National Directory of New Hires and report the results 
of the data match to HUD. The Act gives HUD the authority to disclose 
this information to O/As and PHAs for the purpose of verifying the 
employment and income of individuals receiving benefits in the above 
programs and CAs for oversight and monitoring purposes. HUD shall not 
seek, use or disclose information relating to an individual without the 
prior written consent of that individual, and HUD has the authority to 
require consent as a condition of participating in these programs.
    HHS' disclosure of data from the National Directory of New Hires is 
authorized by section 217 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 
2004 (Pub. L. 108-199). The disclosures from the HHS system of records, 
``Location and Collection System of Records,'' No. 09-90-0074, will be 
made pursuant to routine use (17) identified in the Federal Register 
published on June 3, 2004 at 69 FR 31399. This routine use authorizes 
HHS to ``disclose to the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
information in the NDNH portion of this system for purposes of 
verifying employment and income of individuals participating in 
specified programs and, after removal of personal identifiers, to 
conduct analyses of the employment and income reporting of these 
individuals.''

II. Objectives To Be Met by the Matching Program

    HUD's primary objective in continuing the existing computer 
matching program is to verify the employment and income of individuals 
participating in the housing programs identified in paragraph I above 
to determine the appropriate level of rental assistance, and to deter 
and correct abuse in rental housing assistance programs. In meeting 
these objectives HUD also is carrying out a responsibility under 42 
U.S.C. 1437f(K) to ensure that income data provided to PHAs and O/As by 
household members is complete and accurate. HUD's various rental 
housing assistance programs require that participants meet certain 
income and other criteria to be eligible for rental assistance. In 
addition, tenants generally are required to report and recertify the 
amounts and sources of their income at least annually. However, under 
the QHWRA of 1998, PHAs operating Public Housing programs may now offer 
tenants the option to pay a flat rent, or an income-based rent. Those 
tenants who select a flat rent will be required to recertify income at 
least every three years. In addition, the changes to the Admissions and 
Occupancy final rule (March 29, 2000 (65 FR 16692)) specified that 
household composition must be recertified annually for tenants who 
select a flat rent or income-based rent.
    Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) set 
admission and eligibility requirements pursuant to the requirements 
contained in the Native American Housing Assistance and Self 
Determination Act of 1996. They are not required to provide tenant data 
to the Department. Therefore, their participation in the computer 
matching program is discretionary.

III. Program Description

    In this computer matching program, tenant-provided information 
included in HUD's automated systems of records known as Tenant Rental 
Assistance Certification System (TRACS) (HUD/H-11), Public and Indian 
Housing Information Center (PIC) (HUD/PIH-4), and Enterprise Income 
Verification (EIV) (HUD/PIH-5) will be compared to data from the NDNH 
database. The notices for these systems were published at 65 FR 52777, 
67 FR 20986, and 70 FR 41780 which was subsequently amended and 
published at 72 FR 17589 respectively. HUD will disclose to HHS only 
tenant personal identifiers, i.e., full name, Social Security Number, 
and date of birth. HHS will match the HUD-provided personal identifiers 
to personal identifiers included in their systems of records known as 
``Location and Collection System of Records,'' No. 09-90-0074. HHS will 
provide income data to HUD only for individuals with matching personal 
identifiers.

A. Income Verification

    Any disparity between tenant-reported income and/or sources and the 
income and sources derived from the match (i.e., a ``hit'') will be 
further reviewed by HUD, the program administrator, or the HUD Office 
of Inspector General (OIG) to determine whether the income reported by 
tenants to the program administrator is correct and complies with HUD 
and program administrator requirements. Specifically, current or prior 
wage information and other data will be sought directly from employers 
and/or tenants.

B. Administrative or Legal Actions

    Regarding the matching described in this notice, HUD anticipates 
that program administrators will take appropriate action in 
consultation with tenants to: (1) Resolve income disparities between 
tenant-reported and independent income source data, and (2) Use correct 
income amounts in determining housing rental assistance.
    Program administrators must compute the rent in full compliance 
with all applicable occupancy regulations. Program administrators must 
ensure that they use the correct income and correctly compute the rent. 
The program administrator may not suspend, terminate, reduce, or make a 
final denial of any housing assistance to any tenant as the result of 
information produced by this matching program until: (a) The tenant has 
received notice of the program administrator's findings, and the tenant 
has been informed of the opportunity to contest such findings and (b) 
the expiration of any notice period provided by statute or applicable 
HUD program requirements. In all cases, program administrators will 
resolve income discrepancies in consultation with tenants. 
Additionally, serious violations, which program administrators, HUD 
Program staff, or HUD/IG verify, should be referred for full 
investigation and appropriate civil and/or criminal proceedings.

IV. Records To Be Matched

    HHS will conduct the matching of tenant SSNs, full names, and dates 
of births (DOBs) to tenant data HUD supplies from its Tenant Rental 
Assistance Certification System (TRACS) (HUD/H-11) and Public and 
Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) system (HUD/PIH-4). Program 
administrators utilize the form HUD-50058 module within the PIC system 
and the form HUD-50059 module within the TRACS to provide HUD with the 
tenant data.

[[Page 10048]]

    HHS will match the tenant records included in HUD/H-11 and HUD/PIH-
4 to NDNH records contained in HHS' ``Location and Collection System of 
Records,'' No. 09-90-0074. HUD will place the resulting matched data 
into its Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system (HUD/PIH-5). The 
notice for this system was published at 72 FR 17589. Routine uses of 
records maintained in the system, including categories of users and 
purposes of such uses was published in that Notice.

V. Period of the Match

    The computer matching program will be conducted according to 
agreements between HUD and HHS. The computer matching agreement for the 
planned match will terminate either when the purpose of the computer 
matching program is accomplished, or 18 months from the date the 
agreement is signed, whichever comes first. The agreements may be 
extended for one 12-month period, with the mutual agreement of all 
involved parties, if the following conditions are met:
    (1) Within three months of the expiration date, all Data Integrity 
Boards (DIBs) review the agreement, find that the program will be 
conducted without change, and find a continued favorable examination of 
benefit/cost results; and (2) All parties certify that the program has 
been conducted in compliance with the agreement.
    The agreement may be terminated, prior to accomplishment of the 
computer matching purpose or 18 months from the date the agreement is 
signed (whichever comes first), by the mutual agreement of all involved 
parties within 30 days of written notice.

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d)

    Dated: February 19, 2008.
Mike Milazzo,
Acting Chief Information Officer.
 [FR Doc. E8-3516 Filed 2-22-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P