[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51615-51616]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-24139]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5323-N-02]


Request for Comments on Ending ``Hold Harmless'' Policy in 
Calculating Income Limits Under Section 3 of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937; Correction

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice; correction.

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SUMMARY: On September 14, 2009, HUD published a notice requesting 
public comment on whether HUD should discontinue its ``hold harmless'' 
policy with respect to Section 8 income limits. In its discussion of 
the impact discontinuing this policy, HUD included an erroneous 
statistic regarding the income levels of HUD assisted households. This 
notice corrects the statistic and extends the public comment period.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 6, 2009.

[[Page 51616]]


ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 
10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications must refer to the 
above docket number and title. There are two methods for submitting 
public comments. All submissions must refer to the above docket number 
and title.
    1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by 
mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500.
    2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
http://www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to 
submit comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments 
allows the commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, 
ensures their timely receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make them 
immediately available to the public. Comments submitted electronically 
through the http://www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other 
commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should 
follow the instructions provided on that website to submit comments 
electronically.

    Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must 
be submitted through one of the two methods specified above. Again, 
all submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the 
rule.

    No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable.
    Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted 
comments and communications submitted to HUD will be available for 
public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the 
above address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters 
building, an advance appointment to review the public comments must be 
scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is 
not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments 
may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal Information Relay 
Service at 800-877-8339. Copies of all comments submitted are available 
for inspection and downloading at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marie L. Lihn or Lynn A. Rodgers, 
Office of Economic Affairs, Office of Policy Development and Research, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 8208, Washington, DC 20410; telephone number 202-708-0590 (this is 
not a toll-free number). Hearing- or speech-impaired individuals may 
access this number via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information 
Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On September 14, 2009 (74 FR 47016), HUD published a notice 
requesting public comment on whether HUD should discontinue its policy 
of maintaining Section 8 income limits at the previously published 
level in cases where HUD's estimate of area median family income (MFI) 
or housing cost adjustment data, or changes in calculation methodology, 
would lead to a lower income limit than was previously published. 
Section 8 income limits determine whether a family meets the definition 
of ``low-income family'' or ``very low-income family,'' which are 
families whose incomes are below 80 percent and 50 percent, 
respectively, of the median family income for the area, with 
adjustments for family size. These income limits are used by a number 
of other federal programs other than the Section 8 program to determine 
eligibility for various forms of assistance. In explaining that 
discontinuation of the ``hold harmless'' policy would not adversely 
affect families in Section 8 and other HUD assisted housing, HUD 
included the following statement in the September 14, 2009, notice:

    ``More than 99 percent of HUD assisted households have incomes 
below the extremely low-income level (30 percent of area median), so 
modest decreases in the Section 8 income limits resulting from this 
change would have minimal impact on families residing in assisted 
housing.''

    The statement was incorrect in that the percentage of households in 
HUD assisted housing that have incomes below the ``extremely low-
income'' level is 75 percent, rather than 99 percent, and in any case, 
HUD believes a more instructive statistic is the percentage of 
households in HUD assisted housing that have incomes below the ``very 
low-income'' level, which is 95 percent.
    Based on HUD administrative data as of June, 2009, the more 
complete affordability statistics are as follows:

 
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                                             Percent of        Percent of
                                            tenant based      tenant based    Percent of place  Percent of place
                                               rental            rental         based rental      based rental
                                             assistance        assistance        assistance        assistance
                                            households at     households at     households at     households at
                                           50% or less of    30% or less of    50% or less of    30% or less of
                                             area median       area median       area median       area median
                                            income (VLI)      income (ELI)      income (VLI)      income (ELI)
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New Admits..............................                97                76                96                75
All Households..........................                95                75                96                75
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    Accordingly, HUD is correcting the statement and extending the 
public comment period.

Correction

    In the Federal Register of September 14, 2009, on page 47017, in 
the second column, section ``III. Other Programs,'' correct the fourth 
sentence to read as follows:

    More than 95 percent of HUD assisted households have incomes 
below the very low income level (50 percent of area median), so 
modest decreases in the Section 8 income limits resulting from this 
change would have minimal impact on families residing in assisted 
housing.


    Dated: September 30, 2009.
Raphael W. Bostic,
Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
[FR Doc. E9-24139 Filed 10-6-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P