[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 119 (Wednesday, June 20, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37248-37250]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15073]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5557-D-06]


Delegations of Authority for the Office of Housing--Federal 
Housing Administration (FHA); Delegation of Authority for the Office of 
Healthcare Programs

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing 
Commissioner, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of Delegation of Authority.

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SUMMARY: This document supersedes all previous delegations of authority 
and specifies the delegations and redelegations of authority for the 
Office of Healthcare Programs within the Office of Housing. The Office 
of Healthcare Programs is headed by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Healthcare Programs and Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Healthcare Programs, who report directly to the Assistant Secretary for 
Housing--Federal Housing Commissioner and the General Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Housing--Deputy Federal Housing Commissioner.

DATES: Effective Date: June 5, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ivy Jackson or John Whitehead, Office 
of Healthcare Programs, Office of Housing, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 6264, Washington, DC 
20410-8000, telephone number 202-708-0599. (This is not a toll-free 
number.) Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this 
number through TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at 
800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice supersedes all previous 
delegations including the delegations and redelegations published in 
the Federal Register on October 12, 2006 (71 FR 60179), and those 
contained in memoranda signed by the FHA Commissioner and titled 
``Redelegations for Sections 232 and 242 Programs,'' dated November 6, 
2008, February 1, 2010, and April 20, 2010.
    The Office of Healthcare Programs (OHP) is centrally organized and 
administered out of HUD Headquarters and headed by a Deputy Assistant 
Secretary. It includes managers and staff members outstationed to field 
locations. OHP reviews and approves mortgage insurance proposals for 
hospitals (Section 242 of the National Housing Act) and residential 
care facilities (Section 232 of the National Housing Act) and handles 
asset management and property disposition matters related to HUD's 
Section 232- and Section 242-insured portfolios. OHP also administers 
all matters under Title XI of the National Housing Act (mortgage 
insurance for group practice facilities), but this program is currently 
inactive. Prior to the creation of OHP, the Section 242 hospital 
program was administered by the Office of Insured Health Care 
Facilities (OIHCF), and the Section 232 residential care facilities 
program was administered by the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs 
(MHP). A 2008 realignment consolidated administration of HUD's health-
care facilities programs under the Office of Insured Health Care 
Facilities (OIHCF), with some responsibilities remaining with MHP. 
Following approval of a reorganization in May 2010, the Office of 
Healthcare Programs came into existence and OIHCF ceased to exist. HUD 
determined that the reorganization was necessary because underwriting 
and oversight issues unique to health-care facilities were best handled 
by a specialized office with particular expertise in the health-care 
area.
    There are three major program offices within OHP, each of which is 
headed by a Director who reports to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Healthcare Programs and the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Healthcare Programs. A general description of each program office 
appears below:
    A. Office of Hospital Facilities. This office develops and 
implements policies and guidelines for the loan origination, asset 
management, and post-insurance activities related to Section 242 
mortgage insurance for hospitals.
    B. Office of Residential Care Facilities. This office develops and 
implements policies and guidelines for the loan origination, 
construction, asset management, and post-insurance activities related 
to Section 232 mortgage insurance for residential-care facilities. 
These facilities include nursing facilities, assisted living 
facilities, and board and care facilities.
    C. Office of Architecture and Engineering. This office provides 
architectural and engineering support for the hospital program and as-
needed consultation for the residential care facilities program. It 
develops and implements policies and guidelines for plans and 
specifications, construction contracts, construction monitoring, 
construction draws, and closeout of the facility construction. This 
office also provides professional consultation for hospital facilities, 
including site visits for those projects that are in financial 
distress.
    The Office of Healthcare Programs is charged with carrying out 
duties of the Assistant Secretary and General Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Housing, as they relate to healthcare facility programs 
set forth in HUD's governing legislation. These programs enable HUD, in 
concert with participants from the private and public sectors, to 
provide affordable capital financing for the construction, 
rehabilitation, refinancing, and purchase of health-care facilities. 
Under this delegation, the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal 
Housing Commissioner, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing--
Deputy Federal Housing Commissioner, and Associate General Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Housing redelegate broad program authority to 
the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs and the 
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs. 
Characterizing the authority that is being redelegated in broad or 
general terms will enable the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare 
Programs and the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare 
Programs to perform all functions necessary to accomplish health-care 
facility program tasks and objectives. The basic health-care program 
functions and a brief description of each are as follows:
    1. General Authority. This authority allows Office of Healthcare 
Programs officials to sign any and all documents necessary to carry out 
business within their program jurisdictions. In addition, this 
authority allows such officials, when considering a proposal, to waive, 
for good cause and with written

[[Page 37249]]

justification any directives that are not mandated by statute or 
regulation.
    2. Production. This function allows a manager with delegated 
authority to make all necessary determinations that relate to the FHA 
insurance application processing and underwriting process. The function 
begins with a pre-application or application for mortgage insurance and 
ends with the Department's endorsement of an insured mortgage and 
related documentation.
    3. Construction. This function involves: the review and approval of 
plans and specifications and construction contracts, environmental 
review, the monitoring of construction progress and quality, the review 
and approval of requests for drawdown of mortgage proceeds as 
construction progresses, and project closeout at the conclusion of 
construction.
    4. Asset Management. Functions carried out under this category 
involve HUD's continuing relationship with a mortgagee and a health-
care facility after the facility has been added to the HUD portfolio 
through FHA mortgage insurance. Ongoing decision-making relates to an 
insured facility's financial strength, occupancy, utilization, 
operations (including changes in ownership, operator, or management 
entity), and compliance with its regulatory agreement from the time of 
occupancy through termination of insurance, with the goal being to 
identify problems that could lead to mortgage default and payment of an 
insurance claim, and to take actions to help the facility avoid 
mortgage default.
    5. Post-Insurance Functions. Functions under this category involve 
the ongoing monitoring and ultimate disposition of Secretary-held 
mortgage notes. The purpose of these functions is to optimize recovery 
of losses from claims. Ongoing decision-making relates to a facility's 
financial strength, occupancy, utilization, operations (including 
changes in ownership, operator, or management entity, and changes in 
debt service via a note modification) and compliance with its 
regulatory agreement. Post-insurance functions include: deciding to 
offer a Secretary-held mortgage note for sale, coordinating details of 
the sale process with the Office of Finance and Budget, deciding 
whether or not to accept an offer from a prospective purchaser and 
deciding whether to foreclose on a Secretary-held mortgage, 
coordinating details of the property sale with the Multifamily Property 
Disposition Center, and deciding whether to accept an offer from a 
prospective purchaser.

Section A. Authority Delegated

    The Assistant Secretary, the General Deputy Assistant Secretary, 
and the Associate General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing hereby 
delegate the following authorities: (1) to the Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Healthcare Programs and the Associate Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Healthcare Programs; and (2) through the above Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs and the Associate Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs, to the managers listed, 
subject to the limitations in Section B below.
    Authority is delegated, on a nationwide basis, to take all actions 
necessary to conduct all health-care facility mortgage insurance 
programs, including, but not limited to, the exercise of the following 
functions:
    1. General authority.
    2. All production functions.
    3. All construction functions.
    4. All asset management functions.
    5. All post-insurance functions.
    Authority is found in Section 7(d) of the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(d), which states: ``The Secretary 
may delegate any of his functions, powers, and duties to such officers 
and employees of the Department as he may designate, may authorize such 
successive redelegations of such functions, powers, and duties as he 
may deem desirable, and may make such rules and regulations as may be 
necessary to carry out his functions, powers, and duties.''
    The authority delegated in Section A and redelegated in Section B 
below does not include authority to issue or waive regulations.

Section B. Authority to Redelegate

    The Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs and the 
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs hereby 
redelegate the following authorities to the following managers:

A. Director, Office of Hospital Facilities

    Authority is redelegated, on a nationwide basis, to take all 
actions necessary to conduct the hospital mortgage insurance program, 
in relation to the following functions:
    1. General authority;
    2. All production functions;
    3. All asset management functions; and
    4. All post-insurance functions.
    Prior authorization required. Exercise of the following authorities 
is subject to prior authorization by the Deputy Assistant Secretary or 
the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs:
    1. Issue waivers of directives (except those that restate 
regulatory or statutory authority);
    2. Issue mortgage insurance commitments;
    3. Issue a notice of violation under the terms of a regulatory 
agreement;
    4. Authorize the acceleration of the principal debt of a mortgage;
    5. Authorize a partial payment of claim;
    6. Authorize the sale of a mortgage note;
    7. Modify a Secretary-held note;
    8. Authorize the sale of a HUD-owned hospital;
    9. Authorize a change of ownership or merger of a portfolio 
hospital;
    10. Approve loan covenants other than the standard covenants;
    11. Authorize a portfolio hospital to pledge accounts receivable as 
collateral for non-FHA indebtedness;
    12. Require a change of a hospital's governing board or management; 
and
    13. Communicate a significant new policy or a significant change to 
established program policy.
    Further redelegations. The Director, Office of Hospital Facilities, 
may redelegate to, or withdraw from, any subordinate Division Director, 
any of the authority delegated to the Director by this notice. Division 
Directors may further redelegate to, or withdraw from, any designated 
officials within their Divisions, any of the authority delegated to 
them.

B. Director, Office of Residential Care Facilities

    Authority is redelegated, on a nationwide basis, to take all 
actions necessary to conduct the residential-care facilities mortgage 
insurance program, in relation to the following functions:
    1. General authority;
    2. All production functions;
    3. All construction functions;
    4. All asset management functions; and
    5. All post-insurance functions.
    Prior authorization required. Exercise of the following authorities 
is subject to prior authorization by the Deputy Assistant Secretary or 
the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs:
    1. Authorize the acceleration of the principal debt of a mortgage;
    2. Authorize a partial payment of claim;
    3. Authorize the sale of a mortgage note;
    4. Modify a Secretary-held note;

[[Page 37250]]

    5. Authorize the sale of a HUD-owned residential care facility;
    6. Approve a portfolio consisting of 10 or more facilities;
    7. Approve change of ownership or operator for a portfolio of 10 or 
more facilities;
    8. Approve a mortgage insurance commitment in excess of $50 
million; and
    9. Communicate a significant new policy or a significant change to 
established program policy.
    Further redelegations. The Director, Office of Residential Care 
Facilities, may redelegate to, or withdraw from, any subordinate 
Division Director any of the authority delegated to the Director under 
this notice. Division Directors may further redelegate to, or withdraw 
from, any designated officials within their Divisions, any of the 
authority delegated to them.

C. Director and Deputy Director, Office of Architecture and Engineering

    Authority is redelegated to take all actions necessary to conduct 
the construction functions for the hospital mortgage insurance program, 
and, when directed by the Deputy Assistant Secretary or the Associate 
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Healthcare Programs, on a case-by-case 
basis, for the residential care facility mortgage insurance program.
    The Director, Office of Architecture and Engineering, may 
redelegate to, or withdraw from, any designated official within that 
Office, any of the authority delegated to the Director.

Section C. Authority Excepted

    The authority delegated in Section A and redelegated in Section B, 
above, does not include authority to issue or waive regulations.

Section D. Authority Superseded

    These redelegations supersede all prior delegations and 
redelegations with respect to health-care facilities, including, 
without limitation, those published in the Federal Register on October 
12, 2006 (71 FR 60179) and memoranda signed by the FHA Commissioner and 
titled ``Redelegations for Sections 232 and 242 Programs,'' dated 
November 6, 2008, February 1, 2010, and April 20, 2010.
    The Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing Commissioner, 
or the General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing 
Commissioner, or the Associate General Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Housing may revoke the authority authorized herein, in whole or part, 
at any time. Notice of any revocation will be published in the Federal 
Register.

    Dated: June 5, 2012.
Carol J. Galante,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner.
[FR Doc. 2012-15073 Filed 6-19-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P