[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6137-6138]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-2720]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-5609-N-03]
Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment:
Data Collection for Full Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative
Fee Study
AGENCY: Office of the Policy Development and Research, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The proposed information collection requirement 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: April 9, 2012.
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, Office
of Policy Development & Research, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 8226, Washington, DC 20410-5000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marina L. Myhre, (202) 402-5705, for
copies of the proposed forms and other available documents. (This is
not a toll-free number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department will submit the proposed
information collection to OMB for review, as required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended). This Notice
is soliciting comments from members of the public and affected agencies
concerning the proposed collection of information to: (1) Evaluate
whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether
the information will have
[[Page 6138]]
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 technology (e.g.,
permitting electronic submission of responses).
This Notice also lists the following information:
Title of Proposal: Data Collection for Full Housing Choice Voucher
Program Administrative Fee Study.
Description of the need for the information and proposed use: This
request is for the clearance of on-site and telephone data collection
from public housing agencies (PHAs) in support of the Housing Choice
Voucher (HCV) Program Administrative Fee Study. The purpose of the
study is to collect accurate information on the costs of administering
the HCV program across a national sample of high-performing and
efficient PHAs, and to use this information to develop a new
administrative fee allocation formula for the HCV program. This request
for clearance is the fourth OMB request in support of this study and is
for data collection for the full national study. The prior OMB requests
have covered the reconnaissance or research design phase of the study,
pretesting the full national study design, and conducting additional
reconnaissance visits to increase the study sample. For the current OMB
request, the research team proposes three main types of data
collection: (1) Measuring the time that HCV staff spend working on the
various activities required to administer the program over a two-month
period; (2) collecting information via interviews and document review
on overhead costs, other costs related to HCV program administration
that cannot be captured by measuring staff time, and ``transaction
counts'' (the number of times an HCV program activity is completed over
a specified period of time) in order to translate the staff time spent
on that activity into a time per activity or cost per activity; and (3)
a telephone survey of 130 small HCV programs (fewer than 250 vouchers)
to understand how smaller agencies administer the HCV program
effectively without the benefit of economies of scale that apply to
larger programs. The results of the data collection will be used to
generate estimates of total cost per activity per PHA and to build a
multivariate regression model that tests how much the variation across
PHAs in administrative costs can be explained by PHA, participant, and
market characteristics. The results of the model will be used to inform
the development of an administrative fee formula that is based on the
average cost per activity and takes into account the most important
factors that cause some HCV programs to be more costly to administer
than others.
OMB Approval Number: Pending.
Agency form numbers: None.
Members of Affected Public: An average of 25 PHA staff per site at
up to 60 PHAs and an average of 2 PHA staff per site at up to 130 PHAs,
for a total of 1,760 PHA staff persons across 190 PHAs.
Estimation of the total number of hours needed to prepare the
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of
response, and hours of response: The research team plans to collect
time measurement and cost data at up to 60 PHAs across the country and
to survey an additional 130 PHAs with small HCV programs. There are
four data collection activities that involve PHA staff. First, up to 3
staff at each of the 60 PHAs will spend a total of 1,440 hours
assembling overhead cost data and preparing for the site visit (3 staff
x 8 hours x 60 sites = 1,440 hours). Second, up to 3 staff at each of
the 60 PHAs will spend up to 2 days each being interviewed in person or
by telephone by the study team about program overhead costs,
transaction counts, and recent changes in voucher program operations (3
staff x 16 hours x 60 sites = 2,880 hours). Third, an average of 20 HCV
program staff per site will participate in the time measurement data
collection. This will entail receiving 2 hours of training (20 staff x
2 hours x 60 sites = 2,400 hours) and responding to notifications via a
smart phone provided by the study team on their work activities over a
two-month period (40 working days). Responding to the notifications
will take approximately 15 minutes per day per staff, for a total of 10
hours per staff over the 40 working days (20 staff x 10 hours x 60
sites = 12,000 hours). Finally, up to 2 PHA staff at 130 PHAs will
participate in the small program telephone survey. These staff will
spend up to 2 hours preparing for the telephone survey, including
assembling financial statements and other documentation, and an average
of 45 minutes completing the survey (2 staff x 2.75 hours x 130 PHAs =
715 hours). The total estimated burden across all proposed data
collection activities is 19,435 hours.
Status of the proposed information collection: Pending OMB
approval.
Authority: Section 3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended.
Dated: January 30, 2012.
Erika Poethig,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
[FR Doc. 2012-2720 Filed 2-6-12; 8:45 am]
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