[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 14 (Thursday, January 22, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3247-3249]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01029]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5843-N-01]


Implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; New System 
of Records, the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program 
Evaluation Data Files

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: New System of Records.

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SUMMARY: The Department's Office of Policy Development and Research 
(PD&R) is proposing to create a new system of records, the ``RAD 
Program Evaluation Data Files.'' The Department's Office of PD&R is 
responsible for maintaining current information on housing needs, 
market conditions and existing programs, as well as conducting research 
on priority housing and community development issues. The principal 
purpose of the evaluation of the RAD Program is to allow the Department 
to assess and report to Congress on the performance of this program, 
which converts public housing units to new forms of ownership, focusing 
on: (1) Preserving the affordable housing availability of former public 
housing units; (2) the amount of private capital leveraged as a result 
of RAD conversions; and (3) the effect that RAD conversions have on 
unit residents. The new SORN allows the Department to track RAD program 
participants for the purpose of studying the impact of the RAD program 
on residents of impacted public housing properties. In order to study 
the residents as they move from the public housing development, it is 
necessary to collect their contact information at this point in the 
program implementation. In addition, the records collected through this 
evaluation represent HUD's effort to be responsive to its Congressional 
mandate to document and report the impact of the program. A more 
detailed description of the new system is contained in this notice.

DATES: Effective Date: The notice will be effective February 23, 2015, 
unless comments are received that would result in a contrary 
determination.
    Comments Due Date: February 23, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of the General Counsel, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communication should refer to

[[Page 3248]]

the above docket number and title. A copy of each communication 
submitted will be available for public inspection and copying between 
8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. weekdays at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Robinson-Staton, Chief Privacy 
Officer, 451 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20410 (Attention: 
Capitol View Building, 4th Floor), telephone number: (202) 402-8073. 
[The above telephone number is not a toll free number.] A 
telecommunications device for hearing-and speech-impaired persons (TTY) 
is available by calling the Federal Information Relay Service's toll-
free telephone number (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This system of records is operated by HUD's 
Office of PD&R and includes personally identifiable information (PII) 
pertaining to participants of HUD's RAD Program from which information 
is retrieved by a name or unique identifier. The new system of records 
encompasses programs and services of the Department's data collection 
and management practices. Publication of this notice allows the 
Department to satisfy its reporting requirement and keep an up-to-date 
accounting of its system of records publications. The new system of 
records will incorporate Federal privacy requirements and HUD policy 
requirements. The Privacy Act provides certain safeguards for an 
individual against an invasion of personal privacy by requiring Federal 
agencies to protect records contained in an agency system of records 
from unauthorized disclosure, by ensuring that information is current 
and collected only for its intended use, and by providing adequate 
safeguards to prevent misuse of such information. Additionally, this 
notice demonstrates the Department's focus on industry best practices 
in protecting the personal privacy of the individuals covered by this 
system of records notice.
    This notice states the name and location of the record system, the 
authority for and manner of its operations, the categories of 
individuals that it covers, the type of records that it contains, the 
sources of the information for the records, the routine uses made of 
the records and the type of exemptions in place for the records. In 
addition, this notice includes the business addresses of the HUD 
officials who will inform interested persons of the procedures whereby 
they may gain access to and/or request amendments to records pertaining 
to them.
    This publication does meet the SORN threshold requirements pursuant 
to the Privacy Act and OMB Circular A-130, and a report was submitted 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Senate Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and the House Committee on 
Government Reform as instructed by Paragraph 4c of Appendix l to OMB 
Circular No. A-130, ``Federal Agencies Responsibilities for Maintaining 
Records About Individuals,'' July 25, 1994 (59 FR 37914).

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).

    Dated: January 12, 2015.
Rafael C. Diaz,
Chief Information Officer.
SYSTEM OF RECORDS NO.: PD&R/RRE.01

SYSTEM NAME:
    Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program Evaluation Data 
Files.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    The Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20140; The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20037; The SSRS, 53 West Baltimore Pike Media, PA 19063.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    The categories of individuals covered by the system will include 
Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program participants who have 
agreed to be part of the RAD outcome study.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The categories of records in the system will include the 
participants name, home address, telephone number, and personal email 
address.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The authority for the collection of records, and the maintenance of 
this system is authorized by Sections 501-502 of the Housing and Urban 
Development Act of 1970 (Pub. L. 91-609), 12 U.S.C. 1701z-1, 1701z-2.

PURPOSE(S):
    The data collected through this effort will be used to study the 
impact of the RAD program on residents of impacted public housing 
properties. RAD is an initiative of the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) and many stakeholders that seek to preserve public 
and other HUD-assisted housing, by providing owners and Public Housing 
Authorities (PHAs) with access to additional funding to make needed 
physical improvements to such properties. In a tightened budget 
environment, PHAs and private owners have to make tough choices between 
repairing roofs and replacing plumbing--or worse, demolishing units 
altogether--because ``of a chronic lack of adequate funding''. The 
public housing inventory currently has a capital needs backlog of $25.6 
billion, and the nation continues to lose 10,000 to 15,000 units of 
affordable housing every year. RAD allows PHAs and private owners to 
convert public housing and other HUD-assisted properties to long-term 
project-based Section 8 rental assistance. It also enables them to 
access private debt and equity to address immediate and long-term 
capital needs of the projects. Most needed repairs made as part of RAD 
are likely to be small and residents will be able to stay in their 
homes during construction. However, some apartments and buildings will 
require more extensive rehab. In these cases, residents may be 
temporarily relocated. All tenants who are relocated will have the 
right to return to their development once construction is completed. 
Generally, temporary relocation should not last longer than 12 months. 
In a few cases, a property may be too old or deteriorated, and past the 
point where it can be effectively rehabilitated, requiring that it be 
demolished and replaced. In these instances, residents will be provided 
temporary relocation and will have the right to return to the 
replacement housing that is constructed. The authorizing statute for 
the demonstration program requires that HUD assess the extent to which 
the program meets the goals of preserving and improving former public 
housing units, and to assess the amount of private capital leveraged as 
a result of such conversions. The authorizing statute also requires HUD 
to assess the effect of conversion on residents. In order to track 
residents as they move from the public housing development, it is 
necessary to collect their contact information at this point in the 
program implementation. PII will be collected from a sample of 400 
residents of public housing developments participating in HUD's RAD 
program who have agreed to be part of an outcomes study, which will 
allow HUD to understand the impact of this program on the residents of 
public housing developments that are implementing RAD. In addition, the 
records collected through this evaluation represent HUD's effort to be 
responsive to its Congressional mandate to document and report the 
impact of the RAD program.

[[Page 3249]]

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES.
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
Section 552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or 
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside HUD as a 
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
    1. To Econometrica and Urban Institute staff to track study 
participants and locate participants for a future follow-up interview. 
Staff may also use the data files to match with other datasets for 
tracking purposes, such as change of address and credit bureau 
databases.
    2. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons to the extent 
that such disclosures are compatible with the purpose for which the 
records in this system were collected, as set forth by Appendix I \1\--
HUD's Library of Routine Uses published in the Federal Register (July 
17, 2012, at 77 FR 41996); and
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    \1\ http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=append1.pdf.
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    3. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when: (a) HUD 
suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of 
information in a system of records has been compromised; (b) HUD has 
determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise, 
there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity 
theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of systems or 
programs (whether maintained by HUD or another agency or entity) that 
rely upon the compromised information; and (c) the disclosure made to 
such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist 
in connection with HUD's efforts to respond to the suspected or 
confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm for 
purposes of facilitating responses and remediation efforts in the event 
of a data breach.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM
STORAGE:
    All data collected will be input and stored in a secure database. 
Hard-copy materials containing respondent identifying information will 
be locked up when not in use. PII will be accessible to the research 
team only at the Urban Institute and SSRS system locations. Transfer of 
PII between HUD and HUD's contractors through secure file transfer 
protocol or transportable media encryption or a similar standard. All 
hard-copy materials, including completed forms and electronic records 
on transportable media, will be kept in locked cabinets when not in 
use. In addition, data on transportable media will be encrypted. 
Records with PII will not be printed.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    The contact database will include personal identifiers that can be 
used to locate records to update residents' whereabouts following 
enrollment into the outcomes study. Records within the contact database 
can be retrieved by name, home address, telephone number, and personal 
email address.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    The retention and disposal procedures will be in keeping with HUD's 
records management policies as described in 44 U.S.C. 3101 and 3303. 
Records will be maintained for a period not to exceed five years. All 
PII associated with the project will be destroyed by Econometrica, Inc. 
and their subcontractors or otherwise rendered irrecoverable per NIST 
SP 800-88 ``Guidelines for Media Sanitization'' (September 2006) at the 
end of the contract. At the end of the contract, paper-based records 
that do not need to be retained will be shredded and the remainder of 
the files will be shredded after the three-year retention period 
required in the contract.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    Carol Star, Director, Division of Program Evaluation, Office of 
Policy Development and Research, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20410, Telephone 
Number (202) 402-6139.

NOTIFICATION AND RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    For information, assistance, or inquiries about the existence of 
records, contact the Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 4156, Washington, DC 
20410 (Attention: Capitol View Building, 4th Floor), telephone number: 
(202) 402-8073. Verification of your identity must include original 
signature and be notarized. Written request must include the full name, 
Social Security Number, date of birth, current address, and telephone 
number of the individual making the request.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    The Department's rules for contesting contents of records and 
appealing initial denials appear in 24 CFR part 16. Additional 
assistance may be obtained by contacting: U.S. Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, Chief Privacy Officer, 451 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20410 (Attention: Capitol View Building, 4th Floor), 
telephone number: (202) 402-8073 or the HUD Departmental Privacy 
Appeals Officers, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Washington DC 20410.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Initial contact information will be extracted from the HUD's 
Inventory Management System, also known as Public and Indian Housing 
Information Center (PIC). Any necessary updates to this contact 
information will be provided directly from HUD's Rental Assistance 
Demonstration participants who have agreed to be part of the outcomes 
study. The records stored in the contact database will include 
information that can be used to locate residents' whereabouts following 
enrollment into the outcomes study. This data will be supplied 
exclusively by the individuals themselves.

SYSTEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2015-01029 Filed 1-21-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P