[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 49 (Monday, March 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13403-13406]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05695]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-5921-N-01]
Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program Between the
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of
Health and Human Services: Matching Tenant Data in Assisted Housing
Programs
AGENCY: Office of Administration, Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
ACTION: Notice of a new computer matching agreement between HUD and
Health and Human Services (HHS).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act
of 1988, as amended, HUD is providing notice of its intent to execute a
new computer matching agreement with HHS for a recurring matching
program with HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and Office
of Housing, involving comparisons of information provided by
participants in any authorized HUD rental housing assistance program
with the independent sources of income information available through
the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) maintained by HHS. HUD will
obtain HHS data and make the results available to: (1) Program
administrators such as public housing agencies (PHAs) and private
owners and management agents (O/As) (collectively referred to as POAs)
to enable them to verify the accuracy of income reported by the tenants
(participants) of HUD rental assistance programs and (2) contract
administrators (CAs) overseeing and monitoring O/A operations as well
as independent public auditors (IPAs) that audit both PHAs and O/As.
The most recent renewal of the current matching agreement expires
on March 15, 2016.
DATES: HUD will file a report of the subject matching program with the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate, and Office of Management and Budget's (OMB),
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The matching program will
become effective as cited in Section VI of this notice.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, Room
10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street
SW., Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should refer to the
above docket number and title. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not
acceptable. 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: For Privacy Act Inquiries: Office of
Administration, Office of the Executive Secretariat, contact Frieda B.
Edwards, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10139, Washington, DC 20410,
telephone number (202) 402-6828. For program information: Office of
Public and Indian Housing, contact Larry Tipton, Project Manager for
the Real Estate Assessment Center, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room PCFL2, Washington, DC 20410,
telephone number (202) 475-8746; and for the Office of Housing, contact
Danielle Garcia, Director of the Housing Oversight Division, Department
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 6134,
Washington, DC 20410, telephone number (202) 402-2768. (These are not
toll-free numbers.) A telecommunications device for hearing- and
speech-impaired individuals (TTY) is available at (800) 877-8339
(Federal Information Relay Service).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 11, 2009, Section 239 of HUD's 2009
Appropriations Act modified Section 904 of the Stewart B. McKinney Act
of 1988, as amended, to include the Disaster Housing Assistance Program
(DHAP) as a ``program'' of HUD for the purpose of income verifications
and computer matching. As such, pursuant to the Computer Matching and
Privacy Protection Act (CMPPA) of 1988, as amended; OMB's guidance on
this statute entitled, ``Final Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of
Public Law 100-503''; and OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix 1 to OMB's
Revisions of Circular No. A-130, ``Transmittal Memorandum No. 4,
Management of Federal Information Resources''; HUD is providing the
public with notice of a new computer matching agreement with HHS
(previous notice of a computer matching program between HUD and HHS was
previously published at 78 FR 47336 on August 5, 2013). The first HUD-
HHS computer matching program was conducted in September 2005, with
HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing. The scope of the HUD-HHS
computer matching program was extended to include HUD's Office of
Housing in December 2007, and the participants of HUD's DHAP in January
2011.
The matching program will be carried out only to the extent
necessary to: (1) Verify the employment and income of individuals
participating in programs identified in Section II below, to correctly
determine the amount of their rent and assistance, (2) identify,
prevent, and recover improper payments made on behalf of tenants, and
(3) after removal of personal identifiers, to conduct analyses of the
employment and income reporting of individuals participating in any HUD
authorized rental housing assistance program.
HUD will make the results of the computer matching program
available to public housing agencies (PHAs), private housing owners and
management agents (O/As) administering HUD rental assistance programs
to enable them to verify employment and income and correctly determine
the rent and assistance levels for individuals participating in those
programs, and contract administrators (CAs) overseeing and monitoring
O/A operations. This information also may be disclosed to the HUD
Office of Inspector General (HUD/OIG) and the Attorney General in
detecting and investigating potential cases of fraud, waste, and abuse
within HUD rental assistance programs.
In addition to the above noted information disclosures, limited
redisclosure of reports containing NDNH information may be redisclosed
to the following persons and/or entities: (1) Independent auditors for
the sole purpose of performing an audit of whether these HUD authorized
entities verified tenants' employment and/or income and calculated the
subsidy and rent correctly; and (2) entities and/or individuals
associated with grievance procedures and judicial proceedings (i.e.
lawyers, court personnel, agency personnel, grievance hearing officers,
etc.) relating to independently verified unreported income identified
through this matching program.
HUD and its third party administrators (PHAs, O/As, and CAs) will
use this matching authority to identify, reduce or eliminate improper
payments in HUD's rental housing
[[Page 13404]]
assistance programs, while continuing to ensure that HUD rental housing
assistance programs serve and are accessible by its intended program
beneficiaries.
I. Authority
This matching program is being conducted pursuant to Section 217 of
the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-199, Approved
January 23, 2004), which amended Section 453(j) of the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. 653(j)), Sections 3003 and 13403 of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-66, approved August 10, 1993);
Section 542(b) of the 1998 Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 105-65); Section
904 of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of
1988, as amended by Section 239 of HUD's 2009 Appropriations, effective
March 11, 2009 (42 U.S.C. 3544); Section 165 of the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 3543); the National
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1701-1750g); the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437-1437z); Section 101 of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s); the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.);
and the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (42 U.S.C.
1437a(f)).
The Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 authorizes HUD to
require applicants and participants (as well as members of their
household 6 years of age and older) in HUD-administered programs
involving rental housing assistance to disclose to HUD their Social
Security Numbers (SSNs) as a condition of initial or continuing
eligibility for participation in the programs. Effective January 31,
2010, all applicants and participants under the age of 6, are required
to disclose their SSN to HUD, in accordance with regulatory revisions
made to 24 CFR 5.216, as published at 74 FR 68924, on December 29,
2009.
Section 217 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004 (Pub. L.
108-199, approved January 23, 2004) authorizes HUD to provide to HHS
information on persons participating in any programs authorized by:
(i) The United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et
seq.);
(ii) Section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q);
(iii) Section 221(d)(3), 221(d)(5) or 236 of the National
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 17151(d) and 1715z-1);
(iv) Section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); or
(v) Section 101 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965
(12 U.S.C. 1701s);
The Refinement of Income and Rent Determination Requirements in
Public and Assisted Housing Programs: Implementation of the Enterprise
Income Verification (EIV) System--Amendments; Final rule published at
74 FR 68924 on December 29, 2009, requires program administrators to
use HUD's EIV system to verify tenant employment and income information
during mandatory re-examinations or recertification's of family
composition and income and reduce administrative and subsidy payment
errors in accordance with HUD administrative guidance (HUD regulation
at 24 CFR 5.233).
This matching program also assists HUD in complying with the
following Federal laws, requirements, and guidance related to
identifying and reducing improper payments:
1. Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
(IPERA) (Pub. L. 111-204);
2. Presidential Memorandum on Enhancing Payment Accuracy Through
a ``Do Not Pay List'' (June 18, 2010)
3. Office of Management and Budget M-10-13, Issuance of Part III
to OMB Circular A-123, appendix C;
4. Presidential Memorandum on Finding and Recapturing Improper
Payments (March 10, 2010);
5. Reducing Improper Payments and Eliminating Waste in Federal
Programs (Executive Order 13520, November 2009);
6. Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-300);
and
7. Office of Management and Budget M-03-13, Improper Payments
Information Act of 2002 Implementation Guide
This matching program is also authorized by subsections
453(j)(7)(A), (C)(i), and (D)(i) of the Social Security Act (as amended
and authorized by Section 217 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2004 (Pub. L. 108-199)). Specifically, the aforementioned law
authorizes HHS to compare information provided by HUD with data
contained in the NDNH and report the results of the data match to HUD.
The Social Security Act gives HUD the authority to disclose this
information to CAs, O/As, and PHAs for the purpose of verifying the
employment and income of individuals receiving benefits in the above
programs. HUD shall not seek, use or disclose information relating to
an individual without the prior written consent of that individual, and
HUD has the authority to require consent as a condition of
participating in HUD rental housing assistance programs.
The NDNH contains new hire, quarterly wage, and unemployment
insurance information furnished by state and Federal agencies and is
maintained by HHS' Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in its
system of records ``OCSE National Directory of New Hires,'' No. 09-80-
0381, published in the Federal Register at 80 FR 17894 (specifically
pages 17906-17909) on April 2, 2015. The aforementioned published
system of records notice authorizes disclosure of NDNH information to
HUD pursuant to Routine Use (12) ``for the purpose of verifying the
employment and income of the individuals and, after removal of personal
identifiers, for the purpose of conducting analyses of the employment
and income reporting of such individuals.''
The HUD records used in the information comparison are retrieved
from the Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS) covered
under HUD's Tenant Housing Assistance and Contract Verification Data
System (HUD/H-11), published on March 13, 1997 (62 FR 11909); and the
Inventory Management System (IMS), also known as the Public and Indian
Housing (PIH) Information Center (PIC) (HUD/PIH.01), published on April
13, 2012 (77 FR 22337). The results of the information comparison are
maintained within, the HUD system of records, Enterprise Income
Verification System (EIV), No. HUD/PIH-5, last published in the Federal
Register at 71 FR 45066 on August 8, 2006, and updated on September 1,
2009, at 74 FR 45235. ``Routine use'' (1) of the system of records
authorizes disclosure of HUD records to HHS.
II. Covered Programs
This notice of computer matching program applies to the following
rental assistance programs:
A. Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP)
B. Public Housing
C. Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV)
D. Project-Based Vouchers
E. Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation
F. Project-Based Section 8
1. New Construction
2. State Agency Financed
3. Substantial Rehabilitation
4. Sections 202/8
5. Rural Housing Services Section 515/8
6. Loan Management Set-Aside (LMSA)
7. Property Disposition Set-Aside (PDSA)
G. Section 101 Rent Supplement
H. Section 202/162 Project Assistance Contract (PAC)
I. Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC)
[[Page 13405]]
J. Section 811 Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC)
K. Section 236 Rental Assistance Program
L. Section 221(d)(3) Below Market Interest Rate (BMIR)
Note: This notice does not apply to the Low-Income Housing Tax
Credit (LIHTC) or the Rural Housing Services Section 515 without
Section 8 programs.
III. Objectives To Be Met by the Matching Program
HUD's primary objective of the computer matching program is to
verify the employment and income of individuals participating in the
housing programs identified in Section II above, to determine the
appropriate level of rental assistance, and to detect, deter and
correct fraud, waste, and abuse in rental housing assistance programs.
In meeting these objectives, HUD also is carrying out a responsibility
under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1437f(K) to ensure that income data provided to
PHAs, and O/As, by household members is complete and accurate. HUD's
various rental housing assistance programs require that participants
meet certain income and other criteria to be eligible for rental
assistance. In addition, tenants generally are required to report and
recertify the amounts and sources of their income at least annually.
However, under the QHWRA of 1998, PHAs operating Public Housing
programs may offer tenants the option to pay a flat rent, or an income-
based rent. Those tenants who select a flat rent will be required to
recertify income at least every three years. In addition, the changes
to the Admissions and Occupancy final rule (March 29, 2000 (65 FR
16692)) specified that household composition must be recertified
annually for tenants who select a flat rent or income-based rent.
An additional objective of this computer matching program is to
facilitate the statistical measurement of subsidy error by completing
an annual QC study. The QC study provides national estimates of the
extent, severity, costs, and sources of rent errors for rental
assistance programs, administered by the Offices of Housing and Public
and Indian Housing. This study is designed to measure the extent of
administrative errors by housing providers and tenant income reporting
errors. The errors evaluated in this study affect the rent
contributions tenants should have been charged. HUD will use NDNH
information resulting from this data comparison and disclosure solely
for the purpose of conducting aggregate analyses of employment and
income reporting of individuals participating in the rental housing
assistance programs. The study will not contain personally identifiable
information of individuals.
IV. Program Description
In this computer matching program, tenant-provided information
included in HUD's automated systems of records known as Tenant Rental
Assistance Certification System (TRACS) covered under HUD's Tenant
Housing Assistance and Contract Verification Data System (HUD/H-11),
Inventory Management System, formerly the Public and Indian Housing
Information Center (PIC) (commonly referred to as IMS/PIC) (HUD/PIH-4),
and Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) System (HUD/PIH-5) will be
compared to data from the NDNH database. HUD will disclose to HHS only
tenant personal identifiers, i.e., full name, Social Security Number,
and date of birth. HHS will match the HUD-provided personal identifiers
to personal identifiers included in the National Directory of New Hires
(NDNH) contained within their systems of records known as ``OCSE
National Directory of New Hires'', System Number 09-80-0381. HHS will
provide employment information and income data to HUD only for
individuals with matching personal identifiers.
A. Income Verification
Any disparity between tenant-reported income and/or sources and the
income and sources derived from the match (i.e., a ``hit'') will be
further reviewed by HUD, the program administrator, or the HUD Office
of Inspector General (OIG) to determine whether the income reported by
tenants to the program administrator is correct and complies with HUD
and program administrator requirements. Specifically, current or prior
wage information and other data will be sought directly from employers
and/or tenants.
B. Administrative or Legal Actions
With respect to the ``hits'' that will occur as a result of this
matching program, HUD requires program administrators to take
appropriate action in consultation with tenants to: (1) Resolve income
disparities between tenant-reported and independent income source data,
and (2) use correct income amounts in determining housing rental
assistance.
Program administrators must compute the rent in full compliance
with all applicable occupancy regulations. Program administrator must
ensure that they use the correct income and correctly compute the rent.
The program administrator may not suspend, terminate, reduce, or make a
final denial of any housing assistance to any tenant as the result of
information produced by this matching program until: (a) The tenant has
received notice from the program administrator of its findings, and
tenants are informed of the opportunity to contest such findings and
(b) either the expiration of any notice period provided in applicable
HUD requirements of the program or the 30-day period beginning on the
date on which notice of adverse findings was mailed or otherwise
provided to the tenant. In all cases, program administrators will
resolve income discrepancies in consultation with tenants.
Additionally, serious violations, which program administrators, HUD
program staff, or HUD OIG verify, should be referred for full
investigation and appropriate civil and/or criminal proceedings.
V. Records To Be Matched
HHS will conduct the matching of tenant SSNs, full names, and dates
of births (DOBs) to tenant data HUD supplies from its Tenant Rental
Assistance Certification System (TRACS) (HUD/H-11) and the Public and
Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) (HUD/PIH-4). Program
administrators utilize the form HUD-50058 module within the PIC and the
form HUD-50059 module within the TRACS to provide HUD with the tenant
data.
HHS will match the tenant records included in HUD/H-11 and HUD/PIH-
4 to NDNH records contained in HHS' ``OCSE National Directory of New
Hires,'' System Number 09-80-0381. HUD will place the resulting matched
data into its Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system (HUD/PIH-5).
VI. Period of the Match
The matching program will become effective and the matching may
commence after the respective Data Integrity Boards (DIBs) of both
agencies approve and sign the computer matching agreement, and after,
the later of the following: (1) 40 Days after report of the matching
program is sent to Congress and OMB; (2) at least 30 days after
publication of this notice in the Federal Register, unless comments are
received, which would result in a contrary determination. The computer
matching program will be conducted according to agreement between HUD
and HHS. The computer matching agreement for the planned match will
terminate either when the purpose of the computer matching program is
accomplished, or 18 months from the effective date. The agreement may
be
[[Page 13406]]
renewed for one 12-month period, with the mutual agreement of all
involved parties, if the following conditions are met:
(1) Within 3 months of the expiration date, all Data Integrity
Boards (DIBs) review the agreement, find that the program will be
conducted without change, and find a continued favorable examination
of benefit/cost results;
(2) All parties certify that the program has been conducted in
compliance with the agreement.
The agreement may be terminated, prior to accomplishment of the
computer matching purpose or 18 months from the date the agreement is
signed (whichever comes first), by the mutual agreement of all involved
parties within 30 days of written notice.
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).
Dated: March 3, 2016.
Patricia A. Hoban-Moore,
Chief Administrative Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-05695 Filed 3-11-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P