[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 102 (Tuesday, May 28, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 24416-24418]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11059]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Part 982

[Docket No. FR-5928-N-02]


Notice of Continuation of Demonstration To Test Proposed New 
Method of Assessing the Physical Conditions of Voucher-Assisted Housing

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian 
Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Demonstration continuation.

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SUMMARY: Through this document, HUD solicits comment on the 
continuation of a demonstration designed to test the new method of 
assessing the physical condition of housing assisted by HUD vouchers 
(voucher-assisted housing). The original announcement of the 
Demonstration was published in the Federal Register on May 4, 2016. In 
the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the act appropriating 
funds for HUD in Fiscal Year (FY 2016), Congress directed HUD to 
implement a single inspection protocol for public housing and voucher 
units. The continuation of this demonstration is necessary to meet that 
requirement. The demonstration commenced the process for implementing 
that single inspection protocol.

DATES: Comments Due Date: July 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments to the 
Office of the General Counsel, Regulations Division, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room 10276, 
Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications should refer to the above 
docket number. There are two methods for submitting public comments.
    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. Due to security measures at all federal 
agencies, however, submission of comments by mail often results in 
delayed delivery. To ensure timely receipt of comments, HUD recommends 
that comments submitted by mail be submitted at least two weeks in 
advance of the public comment deadline.
    2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit 
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 
http://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 comments 
immediately available to the public. Comments submitted electronically 
through the http://www.regulations.gov website can be viewed by other 
commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should 
follow instructions provided on that site to submit comments 
electronically.

    Note:  To receive consideration as public comments, comments 
must be submitted using 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 Comments. All 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). Copies of all comments submitted are available for inspection 
and downloading at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George Forbes, Inspection Standards 
and Data--Vouchers Division, Real Estate Assessment Center, Office of 
Public and Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 
550 12th Street SW, Suite 100, Washington, DC 20410-4000; telephone 
number (202) 475-8735 (this is not a toll-free number). Persons with 
hearing or speech impairments may contact this number via TTY by 
calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Structure of the Notice

    This document discusses the background, goals, and comments 
received during the demonstration and the reasons for continuing the 
demonstration. Section II provides background on the origins of the 
Uniform Physical Condition Standards for Vouchers (UPCS-V) and progress 
of the demonstration. Section III discusses the impact of comments on 
the test plan for the demonstration and reframed goals based on those 
comments. Section IV describes what HUD is looking to accomplish in the 
next phase of the demonstration.

II. Background

    Information on the Housing Choice Voucher program and the current 
Housing Quality Standards (HQS), codified at 24 CFR 982.401, was 
presented in the May 4, 2016 Demonstration Notice.\1\ The HUD Office of 
Inspector General (OIG) released several audit reports and evaluations 
identifying weakness in the current HCV inspection program.\2\ 
Additionally, the Senate Committee on Appropriations issued Report 113-
045, accompanying the Senate bill for HUD's

[[Page 24417]]

2014 appropriations, directing HUD to ``. . . move to a consistent 
inspection standard across housing assistance programs, as well as 
[for] oversight of Section 8 units.'' \3\ In the Joint Explanatory 
Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, 
Public Law 114-113, approved December 18, 2015, Congress again directed 
HUD to implement a single inspection protocol for public housing and 
voucher units.\4\ Based on these findings and directives, HUD commenced 
the development of the UPCS-V inspection standard. Congress provided 
HUD with funding to improve its oversight of the HCV inspection program 
and to move the inspection standard for the HCV program to a standard 
consistent with other affordable housing programs, incorporating modern 
health and safety practices.\5\
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    \1\ Notice of Demonstration to Test Proposed New Method of 
Assessing the Physical Conditions of Voucher-Assisted Housing, 81 FR 
26759 (May 4, 2016).
    \2\ See e.g., HUD OIG Reports: 2018-PH-1002; 2017-PH-1007; 2016-
AT-1005; 2015-CH-1007; 2014-NY-1003; 2012-BO-1005.
    \3\ See page 100 of https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-113srpt45/pdf/CRPT-113srpt45.pdf.
    \4\ See page 41 of Division L of the FY2016 Joint Explanatory 
Statement. See https://rules.house.gov/bill/114/hr-2029-sa.
    \5\ See Title II of Division K of the FY2015 Joint Explanatory 
Statement. See https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2014/12/11/house-section/article/H9307-1.
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    HUD is developing a single inspection standard for all units under 
the Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and Multifamily 
programs, called National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real 
Estate (NSPIRE). NSPIRE will leverage the infrastructure of UPCS-V to 
demonstrate, test, and validate NSPIRE protocols. HUD envisions NSPIRE 
being used for all housing inspections.

Demonstration Progress

    Under the demonstration, HUD trained numerous public housing 
agencies (PHAs) and continues to train PHAs on a regular basis. 
Currently over 200 PHAs are actively participating in the program. This 
participation has been critical to the development of a viable 
inspection protocol. Active PHA participation in the demonstration 
allows HUD to conduct analysis on a statistically valid number of 
inspections using the UPCS-V Protocol version 2.5.\6\ In addition to 
training on the protocol and inspection process, HUD provided devices 
to some demonstration participants to mitigate the potential cost of 
off-the-shelf devices.
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    \6\ See https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/UPCSV-PROTOCOLREV.PDF.
_____________________________________-

    UPCS-V Protocol version 2.5 is currently active in the field. The 
much improved, streamlined, and alphabetized Defect Dictionary of UPCS-
V Beta was drafted while version 2.5 was active in the field. In order 
to validate the changes made to the inspection protocol, HUD must field 
test UPCS-V Beta over the next two years. Further, HUD hopes to 
increase demonstration participation to gather more representative and 
informative data. HUD continues to recruit PHAs to participate. Contact 
[email protected] for more information on becoming a demonstration 
participant. HUD welcomes additional PHA participation.

III. Impact of Comments and Demonstration Goals

A. Impact of Comments

    The initial demonstration was tailored to allow a variety of PHAs 
to participate. Many PHAs commented they wanted to participate but did 
not meet the initial selection criteria of the original demonstration 
notice, including PHA size, geographical spread, and/or number of 
inspections per week. HUD considered these comments and deemed it 
beneficial to allow some PHAs to participate in the demonstration that 
did not meet the initial criteria because it allowed stress testing in 
diverse environments and provided a more representative sample of 
inspections and issues. HUD also agreed with commenters with respect to 
allowing the participation of PHAs who use contract inspectors to 
conduct their inspections. Public comments supported the expansion of 
the selection criteria.
    As a result of the ongoing demonstration, HUD developed, tested, 
and fielded a mobile inspection application that has received 
increasingly positive feedback from PHAs. PHA feedback has been 
critical throughout the demonstration, resulting in a significantly 
improved user experience for PHAs and increased data flow to HUD.
    HUD's published list of Life-Threatening Conditions was an area of 
concern for several commenters.\7\ As many commenters noted, the 
expansion of UPCS-V will be easier to adopt by PHAs if the existing 
management applications is an integrated UPCS-V Protocol; to that end, 
HUD formatted the system to allow stakeholders to familiarize 
themselves with the progress of HUD's software development.\8\
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    \7\ Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 
(HOTMA)--Housing Quality Standard (HQS) Implementation Guidance 
[Notice PIH 2017-20 (HA)], HUD.GOV (Oct. 27, 2017). See also, 
Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016: 
Implementation of Various Section 8 Voucher Provisions, 82 FR 5458 
(Jan. 18, 2017).
    \8\ See https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/reac/isdv/it/vedga.
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B. Demonstration Goals

    Decent, safe, and sanitary housing is the objective of National 
Housing Policy, 42 U.S.C. 12702, and the primary goal of UPCS-V. HUD 
seeks to provide PHAs with an inspection protocol that gives them 
insight into the housing quality of subsidized units so they can use 
data-driven decisions to guide their program administration. The 
protocol itself is objective, accurate, and consistent in order to 
realize the goals of insightful data, which ensures PHAs provide 
decent, safe, and sanitary housing.
    The three components of the demonstration, (1) evaluation of the 
revised inspection model (UPCS-V), (2) data standardization and 
information exchange, and (3) insight for improvement have made 
significant progress during the demonstration.\9\ UPCS-V Beta is 
awaiting validation in the field. By standardizing inspection 
procedures with participating PHAs, HUD seeks to provide access to 
incisive inspection data unavailable before. HUD's work with software 
vendors represents the first step in honing data standardization and 
information exchange to facilitate PHA access to meaningful data 
metrics. The third component of the demonstration provides insight for 
improvement. HUD's increasing capacity to analyze data provides PHAs 
with insight needed to improve their detailed understanding of the 
condition of voucher-assisted housing available through their program.
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    \9\ 81 FR 26760 (May 4, 2016) (the three components of the 
Demonstration were originally identified as: Evaluation of Revised 
Inspection Model (UPCS-V); Data Standardization and Information 
Exchange; and Oversight and Performance Improvement).
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IV. The Next Phase of the Demonstration

    To gather additional data and allow increased PHA participation, 
while avoiding the burden of defaulting to their original inspection 
models by current participants, HUD recognized the need to continue the 
UPCS-V Demonstration.
    HUD welcomes input from every sector of the stakeholder population 
including tenants, landlords, and 3rd party software developers. HUD 
received positive feedback with respect to the streamlined and 
alphabetized defect dictionary of UPCS-V Beta. The current inspection 
application has significant improvements based on user feedback. HUD's 
software development team continues to communicate with stakeholders. 
These achievements are

[[Page 24418]]

the groundwork for successfully modernizing the voucher-assisted 
housing inspection standard.
    HUD must consider several factors of significance in evaluating 
UPCS-V for successful completion. Does the protocol meet PHA needs? Is 
UPCS-V clear, accurate, objective, and consistent? Is it practical for 
all inspectors, from entry level to experienced? Does it provide 
valuable insight to PHAs, and is it cost effective for them to use? 
Inspection application development, training, and user acceptance 
testing are all critical components of providing stakeholders a quality 
product. The demonstration must encompass all these necessary 
components to provide stakeholders with a tool that meets their needs. 
To meet PHA needs and thoroughly address the above questions, a two-
year continuation of the UPCS-V demonstration is necessary.

    Dated: May 8, 2019.
R. Hunter Kurtz,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
[FR Doc. 2019-11059 Filed 5-24-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4210-67-P