[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 95 (Tuesday, May 18, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27806-27807]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11736]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5376-N-38]


Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB 
Emergency Comment Request; Multifamily Weatherization Certification

AGENCY: Office of the Deputy Secretary, 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.

DATES: Comments Due Date: June 1, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments must be received within fourteen (14) days from 
the date of this Notice. Comments should refer to the proposal by name/
or OMB approval number and should be sent to: HUD Desk Officer, Office 
of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 
20503; e-mail: OIRA--Submission @omb.eop.gov; fax: (202) 395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Freedberg, Office of 
Sustainable Housing and Communities, Room 10180. Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410; 
e-mail: [email protected]; telephone (202) 402-4366 or fax 
(202) 708-0465. This is not a toll-free number. Copies of available 
documents submitted to OMB may be obtained from Mr. Freedberg.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This Notice is soliciting comments from 
members of the public and affected agencies concerning the proposed 
collection of information to enable HUD to identify additional 
multifamily public and assisted housing properties or buildings that 
meet the income guidelines for DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program.
    On January 25, 2010, the Department of Energy (DOE) published a 
regulation in the Federal Register that is intended to reduce the 
review and verification burden related to income eligibility and 
certain operational requirements under the DOE Weatherization 
Assistance Program (``weatherization program'') for certain properties 
identified by HUD.
    The January 25 rule was developed to address significant additional 
funding appropriated by Congress for the weatherization program under 
the American Recovery and Revitalization Act of 2009 (``Recovery 
Act''). Under the new rule, if a public housing, assisted multi-family 
or Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) building is identified by HUD 
and included on a list or lists published by DOE, that building meets 
DOE's weatherization program income requirements without the need for 
further evaluation or verification, and may meet certain other program 
requirements.
    A minimum requirement for inclusion on these lists is that at least 
66 percent of the residents of the building (50 percent for 2-4 unit 
buildings) must meet DOE's income eligibility requirement, which is 
currently set at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or, if a 
state chooses, 60 percent of the State's median income.
    The DOE Final Rule requires that each building within a project 
meet the income qualification requirements in order to be included on 
the published eligibility list, whereas HUD records for assisted 
properties are at generally at the property or project level--which may 
contain more than one building. The initial list of properties provided 
by HUD to DOE contains properties that HUD was able to verify income 
eligibility for participation by utilizing existing available 
information.
    The buildings HUD was able to provide to DOE for inclusion on the 
initial lists were: (1) Projects/properties that consist of a single 
building, where at least 66 percent of the residents meet DOE's income 
requirements; and (2) projects/properties with more than one building 
where 100 percent of the project/property's residents meet DOE's income 
requirements.
    A number of property owners have subsequently contacted HUD to 
request that properties not included on these initial lists be checked 
as to their eligibility. In order to enable HUD to verify additional 
buildings within projects/properties that may meet DOE's income 
guidelines, additional information is needed. Property owners may e-
mail HUD at [email protected] with a list of projects that the 
property owner believes should be included on the next published list 
of eligible buildings. For each property, a certification from the 
owner with the following information must be provided:
    a. Property/Project ID number and address;
    b. Number of individual buildings within that project/property;
    c. List of addresses for each building, and the number of units in 
each building; and
    d. For multiple buildings that share the same address, the 
apartment or unit addresses.
    HUD will review the income information for those addresses 
associated with each building identified in the certification. If, 
utilizing this information, HUD is able to determine that an individual 
building within a project/property is income-eligible according to DOE 
requirements, HUD will provide that building to DOE for posting on 
DOE's Web site. Alternatively, if, with the additional information 
supplied, HUD is able to determine that all buildings within the 
project meet DOE's income requirements, the entire project/property 
will be forwarded to DOE for posting on DOE's Web site. The additional 
buildings and projects will be posted as a quarterly addendum to the 
DOE Lists.
    This Emergency Comment Request meets Paperwork Reduction Act 
requirements for emergency processing as outlined in 5 CFR 1320.13. The 
emergency processing is related to the rapid obligation and expenditure 
deadlines established by the Recovery Act, and are therefore extremely 
time sensitive. HUD cannot reasonably comply with normal clearance 
procedures, because potential multifamily applicants will be placed at 
a competitive disadvantage in applying for weatherization program funds 
appropriated by Congress under the Recovery Act if normal clearance 
procedures are followed.
    The opportunity to take advantage of the funds is essential to the 
objectives of the partnership established between HUD and DOE for this 
purpose, and to enable potential multifamily applicants to lower 
utility costs for low-income residents with these funds.
    Further, emergency processing is essential in order to enable HUD 
to respond in a timely fashion to requests that have already been 
received from

[[Page 27807]]

owners of public housing and assisted housing properties to have HUD 
review this information for the purpose of identifying these properties 
as meeting certain requirements for the weatherization program. Demand 
for the weatherization funds is very high, and long waiting lists 
already exist in many states for these funds; absent emergency 
processing of this information request, these individuals are likely to 
be placed at a competitive disadvantage in applying for Recovery Act 
weatherization assistance funding, since HUD is otherwise unable to 
identify these buildings or properties as meeting these requirements 
under the expedited procedures described in the DOE January 25, 2010 
rule.
    Failure to secure the information in a timely fashion may delay the 
ability of potential weatherization program grant recipients to apply 
for Recovery Act weatherization funds under the streamlined procedures 
envisioned in the DOE rule.
    This Notice also lists the following information:
    Title of Proposal: Multifamily Weatherization Certification.
    Description of Information Collection: Certification to be provided 
by owners of public housing and assisted housing multifamily properties 
to enable HUD to identify additional properties or buildings that meet 
requirements of DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program, in addition to 
those properties already posted on DOE's Web site.
    OMB Control Number: 2501--Pending.
    Agency Form Numbers: None.
    Members of Affected Public: Public Housing Authorities, Owners of 
HUD-assisted multifamily properties.
    Estimation of the Total Numbers of Hours Needed to Prepare the 
Information Collection Including Number of Respondents, Frequency of 
Responses, and Hours of Responses: The estimated number of respondents 
is 100, and the number of responses is 1. There will be in total, 
approximately 100 total responses. The total reporting burden is 50 
hours.
    Status of the Proposed Information Collection: New collection of 
information.

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

    Dated: May 11, 2010.
Leroy McKinney,
Departmental Reports Management Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-11736 Filed 5-17-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P