[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 172 (Wednesday, September 7, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54709-54710]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19262]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-7060-N-06]


60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Capital Needs 
Assessment of Public Housing; OMB Control No.: 2528-XXXX

AGENCY: Office of the Policy Development and Research, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for the information collection described below. In 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment 
from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. 
The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 7, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB 
Control Number and should be sent to: Anna P. Guido, Reports Management 
Officer, REE, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW, Room 8210 Washington, DC 20410-5000; telephone 202-402-5535 
(this is not a toll-free number) or email at [email protected] for a 
copy of the proposed forms or other available information. Persons with 
hearing or speech impairments may access this number through TTY by 
calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna P. Guido, Reports Management 
Officer, REE, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-5000; email Anna P. Guido at 
[email protected] or telephone 202-402-5535 (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. Copies of available documents submitted to OMB may be 
obtained from Ms. Guido.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice informs the public that HUD is 
seeking approval from OMB for the information collection described in 
section A.

A. Overview of Information Collection

    Title of Information Collection: Capital Needs Assessment of Public 
Housing.
    OMB Approval Number: Pending.

[[Page 54710]]

    Type of Request: New collection.
    Form Number: N/A.
    Description of the Need for the Information and Proposed Use: The 
Office of Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of 
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is proposing the collection of 
information for the Capital Needs Assessment of Public Housing.
    Public housing serves the housing needs of low- and very-low-income 
households, including needy families, the elderly, and the disabled. In 
the United States, public housing is owned and managed by public 
housing authorities (PHAs), which are units of state and local 
government. Public housing is nonetheless heavily subsidized and 
regulated by HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing through the 
Operating Fund, Capital Fund, and other means. The capital needs of 
public housing have a direct bearing on HUD's Capital Fund budget and 
its support to PHAs for using alternative means of financing to meet 
those needs.
    The number of public housing developments and units in the United 
States and the number of PHAs that own and manage public housing 
developments and units have changed over time. According to the most 
recent HUD data, there are 2,780 PHAs that own and manage 940,330 units 
in 6,523 public housing developments.
    The public housing Capital Fund provides funds for the capital and 
management activities of PHAs as authorized under section 9 of the 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g) (the Act). Capital needs are 
defined by section 9(d)(1) of the Act, as codified at 24 CFR part 905, 
with section 200 listing eligible activities. These activities include, 
among others, the development, financing, and modernization of public 
housing, vacancy reduction, nonroutine maintenance, and planned code 
compliance. This work is intended to bring each PHA's projects up to 
applicable modernization and energy conservation standards.
    This Federal Register Notice provides an opportunity to comment on 
the information collection for the capital needs assessment (CNA) of 
public housing.
    After OMB approval of the Paperwork Reduction Act package, HUD and 
its contractor will administer a web-based survey to a sample of 
approximately 300 PHAs to collect data on their CNA estimates, their 
practices to arrive at those estimates, and their use of those 
estimates.
    After analyzing the data from the first survey of PHAs, HUD and its 
contractor will administer a second web-based survey of another 500 
PHAs. This survey will ask many of the same questions as the first 
survey.
    Both surveys will provide data that, when combined with HUD's other 
data sources, will be used to estimate the capital needs of public 
housing following an iterative and duplicable approach.
    Both surveys also include questions about the processes that PHAs 
use to assess their capital needs. Based on responses to those 
questions, the study will assess PHAs' processes to see how they 
compare to in-person data collection methods used in previous CNAs and 
industry best practices.
    The purpose of this assessment is to better understand if a non-
inspection-based approach can yield reliable and valid results that are 
comparable to those in the past studies, if not better.
    Respondents: PHA officials and staff participating in capital needs 
assessments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: This information collection will 
affect approximately 800 respondents. This includes (1) an initial 
survey of 300 PHAs and (2) a second survey of 500 PHAs.
    Estimated Time per Response: Each PHA survey is expected to take 30 
minutes.
    Frequency of Response: 1 time for all surveys.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 400 hours for all surveys.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: 15,212 for all surveys.
    Respondent's Obligation: PHA staff members.
    Legal Authority: The collection of information is conducted under 
title 12, United States Code, section 1701z and section 3507 of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44, U.S.C., 35, as amended.

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                                             Number of     Frequency of    Responses per    Burden hour    Annual burden    Hourly cost
         Information collection             respondents      response          annum       per response        hours       per response        Cost
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PHA survey 1............................             300               1               1             0.5             150          $38.03       $5,704.50
PHA survey 2............................             500               1               1             0.5             250           38.03        9,507.50
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    Total...............................             800  ..............  ..............  ..............             400  ..............       15,212.00
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Source: Table B-3. Average hourly and weekly earnings of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector, seasonally adjusted. U.S. Bureau
  of Labor Statistics. January 2022(P) for all business and professional services. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t19.htm.

    To arrive at the dollar cost of the estimated response burden, we 
have used preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor 
Statistics on average hourly earnings in January 2022. For PHA staff, 
we use the estimate for professional and business services ($38.03).

B. Solicitation of Public Comment

    This notice solicits comments from members of the public and 
affected parties concerning the collection of information described in 
Section A 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 the use of appropriate automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses.
    HUD encourages interested parties to submit comment in response to 
these questions

C. Authority

    Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35 and title 42 U.S.C. 5424 note, title 13 U.S.C. 8(b), and 
title 12, U.S.C., section 1701z-1.

Todd M. Richardson,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research.
[FR Doc. 2022-19262 Filed 9-6-22; 8:45 am]
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