[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 58 (Friday, March 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14610-14612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-6737]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5376-N-20]


Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; 
Emergency Comment Request; Housing Choice Voucher Program (Voucher 
Management System Enhancements and Reporting Requirements)

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of proposed information collection.

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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirement described 
below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for emergency review and approval, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the 
subject proposal, to assure better understanding of the reporting 
requirements and consistency in the submission of data.

DATES: April 2, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments must be received within seven (7) days from the 
date of this Notice. Comments should refer to the proposal by name/or 
OMB approval number and should be sent to: Mr. Ross A. Rutledge, HUD 
Desk Officer, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503; e-mail: [email protected]; 
fax: (202) 395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leroy McKinney, Jr., Departmental 
Reports Management Officer, QDAM, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 4178, Washington, DC 20410-5000; 
telephone 202-402-8048, (this is not a toll-free number) or email Mr. 
McKinney at [email protected] for a copy of the proposed forms, 
or other available information. Copies of available documents submitted 
to OMB may be obtained from Mr. McKinney.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Notice informs the public that the U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has submitted to OMB, 
for emergency processing, a proposed information collection that 
requires the addition of four new input fields within the Voucher 
Management System (VMS).
    The VMS is currently used by Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) to 
report their monthly leasing and expense information in connection with 
the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The VMS collects data on 
monthly leasing activities and costs for the HCV program via mandatory 
PHA reporting. It is a critical data system that is used for a variety 
of major functions, including budget formulation, utilization analysis, 
and funding allocations. As such, accuracy of the data is extremely 
important.
    The system is periodically enhanced to provide new flexibilities or 
features for improved ease and accuracy of reporting and use of the 
data. Accordingly, the new VMS reporting fields are designed to provide 
greater effectiveness in monitoring the PHAs' financial data and to 
provide a more complete picture of the PHAs' funding and resources. The 
reporting enhancements are expected to assist HUD's goal of achieving 
improved financial accountability by the PHAs and greater recognition 
of potential shortfalls that may impede the PHAs' ability to assist as 
many families and individuals as possible while staying within their 
budget.
    Title of Proposed Notice: Housing Choice Voucher Program (Voucher 
Management System Enhancements and Reporting Requirements.)
    Description of Information Collection: This is a revision of a 
previously approved information collection. The Department of Housing 
and Urban Development is seeking emergency review of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act

[[Page 14611]]

requirements associated with the Office of Public Housing and Voucher 
Program's Voucher Management System. The four additional reporting 
fields will be crucial to the identification of actual or incipient 
financial problems that will ultimately affect funding for program 
participants. Through submission of these monthly reports, HUD is able 
to ensure that PHAs do not over or under utilize their baseline unit 
months or annual budget authority, thereby maximizing the number of 
qualified families that can participate in the Housing Choice Voucher 
programs.
    The reporting fields and their definitions are described as 
follows:

(1) Net Restricted Assets (NRA) as of the Last Day of the Month

    For Reference: NRA is the amount reported on the income statement 
at line 1118--Restricted Net Assets. The NRA reported in VMS must be 
updated through the end of the reporting month.
    Definition: NRA is the amount of Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) 
Equity for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. It is equal to 
total HAP revenue minus total HAP expense for eligible unit months 
leased on a calendar year basis. Total HAP expense should include 
expenses for regular vouchers as well as expenses for certain HCV 
special purpose vouchers including Non-Elderly Disabled (NED), Family 
Unification Program (FUP), HOPE VI, One Year Mainstream (MS1), 
Litigation, Tenant Protection (TP), and Homeownership. Total HAP 
revenue is defined as total funding eligibility for calendar years 2005 
and later (including pro-rated renewal eligibility plus funding for 
incremental vouchers) minus any offsets for 2008 and 2009, and should 
equal the amount actually disbursed to the PHA. The amount reported 
must include all interest earned, fraud recovery, and Family Self-
Sufficiency (FSS) forfeitures. Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing 
(VASH) NRA is not reported in this field. Those funds are tracked 
separately and the balance is reported in Line 1118--Restricted Net 
Assets.
    The balance of this account will be carried forward on a monthly 
basis beginning January 1, 2005, through the end of the current month. 
Note: Negative amounts must be reported; however, if the PHA has a 
negative balance at the end of the calendar year the negative amount 
must not be carried forward to January of the following year. The PHA 
must start with a zero balance at the beginning of January for purposes 
of reporting in this field. PHAs are advised that although the negative 
amount is not carried forward to the following year the deficit 
incurred by the PHA is not forgiven nor will additional funds be 
provided to cover the shortage. The PHA is responsible for operating 
their program within the amount of funding provided. Negative amounts 
reported may result in a HUD review and corrective action may be 
warranted if it is determined the PHA expended any portion of their HAP 
funding on non-HAP eligible expenses.
    Moving to Work (MTW) PHAs should report their financial information 
as required in their MTW Agreement.

(2) Unrestricted Net Assets (UNA) as of the Last Day of the Month

    For reference: UNA is the amount reported on the income statement 
at line 1117--Administrative Fee Equity. The UNA reported in VMS must 
be updated through the end of the reporting month.
    Definition: UNA is equal to total Administrative Fee (AF) revenue 
minus total HCV administrative expenses and any AF used for housing 
assistance payments (HAP) or other activities for Section 8 Tenant 
Based related purposes. UNA (referred to Administrative Fee Reserve in 
the HCV voucher program regulations) is the amount by which program 
administrative fees paid by HUD for a PHA fiscal year exceeded the PHA 
program administrative expenses for the fiscal year plus any interest 
earned on the administrative fee reserve (see 24 CFR 982.155(a)). This 
means that the total administrative fee revenue used to calculate the 
UNA reported in this Field does not include administrative fees 
received during the current PHA fiscal year, because excess AF received 
does not accumulate to the UNA until the end of the PHA's fiscal year. 
The excess fees received during the PHA's current fiscal year will not 
be reported in the UNA field until after PHA's fiscal year in which 
they were received has ended. The monthly amount reported is the 
current UNA balance (including any interest earned and fraud recovery 
allocated to the UNA account for the month being reported). PHAs must 
also include in this field their pre-2005 AF balance, formerly referred 
to as their operating reserve (also known as their administrative fee 
reserve). MTW PHAs should report their financial information as 
required in their MTW Agreement.

(3) Cash/Investments as of the Last Day of the Month

    For Reference: These are the amounts reported on the balance sheet 
at lines 111--Cash--Unrestricted; 113--Cash--other restricted; 131--
Investments--Unrestricted; and 132--Investments--restricted. The Cash/
Investments reported in VMS must be updated through the end of the 
reporting month.
    Definition: Cash/Investments as of the last day of the month is the 
total amount of housing assistance payments (HAP) and administrative 
fee (AF) cash and investments for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) 
program. This amount must include only those HAP and AF funds 
(including any interest or revenue derived) received for the HCV 
program, including interest earned, fraud recovery and Family Self-
Sufficiency (FSS) forfeitures. Funds received for FSS Coordinator and 
not expensed must not be included. Cash and investments for FSS escrows 
must not be included. MTW PHAs should report their financial 
information as required in their MTW Agreement.

(4) Number of Vouchers Issued But Not Under Active Housing Assistance 
Payment (HAP) Contract as of the Last Day of the Month

    Definition: This figure represents the total number of new vouchers 
issued and not yet under a HAP contract as of the last day of the 
reporting period.
    This figure excludes vouchers issued to participants who are 
currently under HAP contract in one unit but have been issued a voucher 
to search for another unit to which they intend to move with continued 
voucher assistance.

    Example: A PHA has 125 vouchers issued and ``on the street,'' as 
follows: (a) 105 families are applicants from the PHA's waiting list 
that were selected and issued vouchers; (b) 10 families are 
participants whose HQS inspection resulted in abatement, and their 
contracts were terminated; (c) 5 families are Port-ins that the PHA 
is absorbing; and (d) 5 families are transferring from other units 
for which they are currently being assisted. In this example, the 
first 120 families from categories a, b and c will be reported in 
the VMS field described in (4), above. The remaining 5 families in 
(d) would not be reported in this field.

    Public comment is invited from interested parties specifically with 
regard to whether clarification is needed to better understand the 
definitions provided herein for the four new VMS reporting fields. 
Commenters are requested to explain in detail the basis for all 
comments submitted.
    OMB Control Number: 2577-0169.
    Agency Form Numbers: Automated form HUD 52681-B (VMS) will be used 
to collect data.
    Members Of Affected Public: Business or other for-profit, State, 
Local Government.
    Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the 
information

[[Page 14612]]

collection including number of respondents, frequency of responses, and 
hours of responses: The estimated number of respondents is 2,450; the 
frequency of response is once per month; and the total reporting burden 
will change from the current total reporting time of 44,100 hours to 
58,800 hours. The requested information is currently maintained by the 
PHAs as part of their monthly balance sheets, income statements, and 
on-site voucher tracking for purposes of annual reporting; however the 
four new fields will require the PHAs to report the information 
monthly.

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

    Dated: March 22, 2010.
Leroy McKinney,
Departmental Reports Management Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-6737 Filed 3-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P