[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15546-15549]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06600]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5173-N-10]


Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Local Government Assessment 
Tool--Information Collection Renewal: Solicitation of Comment--60-Day 
Notice Under Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

AGENCY: Office of the Assistance Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal 
Opportunity, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On December 31, 2015, HUD announced the availability of the 
assessment tool (Local Government Assessment Tool) developed by HUD for 
use by local governments that receive Community Development Block 
Grants (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Emergency 
Solutions Grants (ESG), or Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS 
(HOPWA) formula funding from HUD when conducting and submitting their 
own Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). The Local Government Assessment 
Tool is also available for use for AFHs conducted by joint and regional 
collaborations between: (1) Such local governments; (2) one or more 
such local governments with one or more public housing agency (PHA) 
partners; and (3) other collaborations in which such a local government 
is designated as the lead for the collaboration.
    The Local Government Assessment Tool was approved by HUD's Office 
of

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Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) for a 
period of one year. This notice, which solicits public comment for a 
period of 60 days, begins the process to renew the approval of the 
Local Government Assessment Tool. The PRA requires two public comment 
periods--a public comment period of 60 days and a second comment period 
of 30 days. After consideration of the public comments submitted in 
response to this notice, HUD will solicit a second round of public 
comments for a period of 30 days.
    HUD notes that, over the next several months, it will be soliciting 
public comment pursuant to the PRA on assessment tools to be used by 
different categories of program participants. This Notice solicits 
public comment on the Local Government Assessment Tool. In a notice 
issued on March 11, 2016, published at 81 FR 12921, HUD announced that 
it is seeking public comments on the proposed assessment tool for use 
by States and Insular Areas (State and Insular Area Assessment Tool). 
In the near future, HUD will issue the proposed assessment tool for 
Public Housing Agencies (PHA Assessment Tool).

DATES: Comment Due Date: May 23, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 
10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications must refer to the 
above docket number and title. There are two methods for submitting 
public comments. All submissions must refer to the above docket number 
and title.
    1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by 
mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500.
    2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit 
comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows the 
commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, ensures timely 
receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make them immediately available to 
the public. Comments submitted electronically through the 
www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other commenters and 
interested members of the public. Commenters should follow the 
instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.

    Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must 
be submitted through one of the two methods specified above. Again, 
all submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the 
notice.

    No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable.
    Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted 
comments and communications submitted to HUD will be available for 
public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the 
above address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters 
building, an advance appointment to review the public comments must be 
scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is 
not a toll-free number). Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing 
and individuals with speech impairments may access this number via TTY 
by calling the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339. Copies of all 
comments submitted are available for inspection and downloading at 
www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George D. Williams, Sr., Deputy 
Assistant Secretary for Policy, Legislative Initiatives and Outreach, 
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 5246, Washington, DC 20410; 
telephone number 866-234-2689 (toll-free). Individuals with hearing or 
speech impediments may access this number via TTY by calling the toll-
free Federal Relay Service during working hours at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    On December 31, 2015, at 80 FR 81840, by notice published in the 
Federal Register, HUD announced the availability for use of the 
Assessment Tool. This announcement was preceded by the two Federal 
Register notices for public comment required by the PRA. The 60-day 
notice was published on September 26, 2015, at 79 FR 57949, and the 30-
day notice published on July 16, 2015, at 80 FR 42108, the same day 
that HUD published its Affirmatively Furthering Final Rule, at 80 FR 
42272. The Assessment Tool, HUD's final rule on Affirmatively 
Furthering Fair Housing, and HUD's AFFH Rule Guidebook accompanying the 
Local Government Assessment Tool can all be found at https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/affh/.

II. Overview of Information Collection

    Title of Proposal: Assessment of FairHousing Tool.
    OMB Control Number, if applicable: 2529-0054.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: The 
purpose of HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) final 
rule is to provide HUD program participants with a more effective 
approach to fair housing planning so that they are better able to meet 
their statutory duty to affirmatively further fair housing. In this 
regard, the final rule requires HUD program participants to conduct and 
submit an AFH. In the AFH, program participants must identify and 
evaluate fair housing issues, and factors significantly contributing to 
fair housing issues (contributing factors) in the program participant's 
jurisdiction and region.
    The Assessment Tool is the standardized document designed to aid 
program participants in conducting the required assessment of fair 
housing issues and contributing factors and priority and goal setting. 
The Assessment Tool asks a series of questions that program 
participants must respond to in carrying out an assessment of fair 
housing issues and contributing factors, and setting meaningful fair 
housing goals and priorities to overcome them.
    Agency form numbers, if applicable: Not applicable.
    Members of affected public: As noted earlier in this document, 
local governments that receive CDBG, HOME, ESG, or HOPWA formula 
funding from HUD when conducting and submitting their own AFH, and any 
PHAs that choose to partner with such local governments.
    Estimation of the total numbers of hours needed to prepare the 
information collection including number of respondents, frequency of 
response, and hours of response:
    Please see table below.

[[Page 15548]]



                                       Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden
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                                                                                     Estimated
                                                    Number of                      average time      Estimated
                                   Number of      responses per    Frequency of         for         burden (in
                                 respondents *     respondent      response **      requirement       hours)
                                                                                  (in hours) ***
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CFR Section Reference: Sec.    2,508 total                    1  Once every five  ..............  ..............
 5.154(d) (Assessment of Fair   entities (1,194                   years (or
 Housing).                      Entitlement                       three years in
                                Jurisdictions                     the case of 3-
                                and                               Year
                                approximately                     Consolidated
                                1,314 PHAs) *.                    Plans) **.
Entitlement Jurisdiction.....  1,194...........  ..............  ...............         *** 240         286,560
PHAs.........................  1,314 *.........  ..............  ...............             120         157,680
                              ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Burden.............  2,508...........         * 1,194  ...............  ..............         444,240
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* This template is primarily designed for local government program participants, of which there are
  approximately 1,194, and PHAs seeking to join with local governments on a jointly submitted AFH. There are
  3,942 PHAs, and HUD estimates that approximately \1/3\ of PHAs may seek to join with a local government and
  submit a joint AFH. The Total Number of responses is listed as 1,194 based on the number of entitlement
  jurisdictions that will submit AFHs using this Assessment Tool. The total hours and burden are based on the
  total estimated number of both types of program participants and the ``estimated average time'' listed for
  type of program participant.
** The timing of submission depends upon whether a local government program participant submits its consolidated
  plan every 3 years or every 5 years.
*** The estimate of 240 hours is an average across all local government program participants, with some having
  either higher or lower actual burden.
**** PHAs participating in joint submissions using the Assessment Tool under this notice are assumed to have
  some fixed costs, including staff training, conducting community participation costs, but reduced costs for
  conducting the analysis in the assessment itself.

III. Solicitation of Specific Comment on the Local Government 
Assessment Tool

    HUD specifically requests comment on the following subjects.
    As HUD has stated, it intends to make improvements to the online 
AFFH Data and Mapping Tool (AFFH-T). HUD is seeking feedback on the 
items listed below that are under consideration, as well as any other 
requests for data or functionality improvements in the AFFH-T. The 
specific items under consideration are intended to modify and improve 
existing data items or to better facilitate program participants in 
completing the Assessment Tool. HUD also intends to provide additional 
instructions to clarify that additional data items may be provided in 
the online available data that do not necessarily require the program 
participant to respond to or include in their final submission as an 
attached map or table, but are provided for the program participants 
benefit in conducting additional levels of analyses. The public and, in 
particular affected HUD program participants are invited to comment on 
the following specific questions. For each of these questions, in 
addition to answering the question, HUD asks commenters to explain why 
the issue or issues posed in each question either would or would not be 
helpful from a fair housing perspective to have this additional level 
of detail presented in the question.
    1. Should R/ECAPs be amended to exclude college students from the 
calculation of poverty rate?
    2. Should HUD provide additional data on homeownership and rental 
housing, including maps and tables (e.g. data on percent of owner and 
renter occupied housing by area, maps showing patterns of home 
ownership and renter occupied housing together with demographics of 
race/ethnicity, and homeownership/rental rates by protected class 
group)?
    3. Are there changes or improvements that can be made to the 
Opportunity Index measures? For example, should HUD include additional 
national data related to schools and education? Should HUD change the 
variables included in the Labor Market Engagement Index? Are there 
changes to the transportation indices (currently Transit Trips and Low 
Transportation Cots) that can be made to better inform a fair housing 
analysis of transportation access and whether transportation provides 
access to areas of opportunity? Should HUD adjust the Environmental 
Health Index with new variables and/or a revised formula?
    5. Should HUD add Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data to 
inform a fair housing analysis of lending practices and trends? Which 
types of HMDA data would be most useful (e.g., loan origination data, 
data on conventional loans compared to FHA loans, etc.)?
    6. Should HUD distinguish between 9 percent and 4 percent tax 
credits in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) data being 
provided, including in maps of development locations?
    7. Should HUD make any other changes to the Local Government 
Assessment Tool to facilitate joint or regional collaboration or 
facilitate a meaningful fair housing analysis and priority and goal 
setting?

IV. Solicitation of Comment Require by the Paperwork Reduction Act

    In accordance with 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), HUD is specifically 
soliciting comment from members of the public and affected program 
participants on the Assessment Tool on the following:
    (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) Ways to 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.
    HUD encourages not only program participants but interested persons 
to submit comments regarding the information collection requirements in 
this proposal. Comments must be received by May 23, 2016 to 
www.regulations.gov as provided under the ADDRESSES section of this 
notice. Comments must refer to the proposal by name and docket number 
(FR-5173-N-10).
    HUD encourages interested parties to submit comment in response to 
these questions.


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    Dated: March 17, 2016.
George D. Williams, Sr.,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Legislative Initiatives, and 
Outreach.
[FR Doc. 2016-06600 Filed 3-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4210-67-P