[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 187 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58816-58818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21044]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-6349-N-01]


Waivers and Alternative Requirements for Community Development 
Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Grantees

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice governs Community Development Block Grant disaster 
recovery (CDBG-DR) funds awarded under the appropriations acts 
identified in the Table of Contents. Specifically, this notice provides 
waivers and establishes alternative requirements for certain CDBG-DR 
grantees that have submitted waiver requests for grants provided under 
the public laws cited in this notice.

DATES: Applicability Date: October 3, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessie Handforth Kome, Director, 
Office of Block Grant Assistance, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room 7282, Washington, DC 20410, 
telephone number 202-708-3587. Individuals can dial 7-1-1 to access the 
Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS), which permits users to make 
text-based calls, including Text Telephone (TTY) and Speech to Speech 
(STS) calls. Individuals who require an alternative aid or service to 
communicate effectively with HUD should email the point of contact 
listed below and provide a brief description of their preferred method 
of communication. Facsimile inquiries may be sent to Ms. Kome at 202-
708-0033. (Except for the ``800'' number, these telephone numbers are 
not toll-free.) Email inquiries may be sent to 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Authority to Grant Waivers
II. Public Law 115-56 and 115-123 Waivers and Alternative 
Requirements

I. Authority To Grant Waivers

    Each of the appropriations acts cited in the Table of Contents 
authorize the Secretary to waive, or specify alternative requirements 
for, any provision of any statute or regulation that the Secretary 
administers in connection with the obligation by the Secretary or use 
by the recipient of grant funds, except for requirements related to 
fair housing, nondiscrimination, labor standards, and the environment. 
HUD may also exercise its regulatory waiver authority under 24 CFR 
5.110, 91.600, and 570.5.
    All waivers and alternative requirements authorized in this notice 
are based upon a determination by the Secretary that good cause exists, 
and that the waiver or alternative requirement is not inconsistent with 
the overall purposes of title I of the Housing and Community 
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) (HCDA). The good cause 
for each waiver and alternative requirement is summarized in this 
notice.

II. Public Law 115-56 and 115-123 Waivers and Alternative Requirements

II.A. Waiver and Alternative Requirements Related to Tourism Marketing 
(U.S. Virgin Islands Only)

    On August 14, 2018, HUD published a Federal Register notice (the 
``August 2018 Notice'') that granted the U.S. Virgin Islands (``USVI'') 
a waiver and alternative requirements related to tourism and marketing 
activities (83 FR 40314, 40322). USVI submitted a request to continue 
the tourism and marketing activities described in these previously 
granted waiver and alternative requirements until December 15, 2022. 
The previously granted waiver and alternative requirements expired May 
19, 2022. Based on the good cause summarized below, HUD is granting the 
waiver and alternative requirements described in this section of this 
notice until December 15, 2022.
    The cap on the activity costs remains unchanged. The grantee can 
expend no more than $25,000,000 total on tourism and marketing 
activities authorized by this and previous waivers and alternative 
requirements.
    In section IV.D.16. of the August 2018 Notice, the Department 
granted the USVI a waiver of 42 U.S.C. 5305(a) to the extent necessary 
to create a new eligible activity and use up to $5,000,000 of CDBG-DR 
funds to promote travel to disaster-impacted areas, which at the time 
was the amount included in the USVI's action plan and substantial 
amendments submitted to and approved by HUD. In section IV.5. of the 
Federal Register notice published on February 19, 2019 (84 FR 4836, 
4845) (the ``February 2019 Notice''), the Department amended this 
waiver and alternative requirement to authorize the use of an 
additional $20,000,000 of the USVI's CDBG-DR funds for tourism and 
marketing activities. HUD required the waiver and alternative 
requirements to expire two years after the USVI's first draw of its 
CDBG-DR funds allocated in the Federal Register notice published on 
February 9, 2018. In section IV.C. of the Federal Register notice 
published on January 6, 2021 (86 FR 569, 575), HUD extended the waiver 
and alternative requirements, in accordance

[[Page 58817]]

with the August 2018 Notice and February 2019 Notice, as referenced 
above, for one year due to issues related to the Coronavirus Disease 
2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This one-year extension expired on May 19, 
2022.
    Tourism is a significant part of the USVI's economy and was 
severely impacted by Hurricanes Irma and Maria and further impacted by 
the COVID-19 pandemic. The expiration of the waiver and alternative 
requirements for tourism and marketing activities limits the ability of 
the USVI to use the CDBG-DR funds during its peak tourism season, 
interrupting economic development gains made by the USVI in its use of 
CDBG-DR funds for disaster recovery. As a result, the Secretary has 
determined that good cause exists to provide a replacement waiver and 
alternative requirements as requested. Accordingly, HUD hereby grants 
an additional waiver of 42 U.S.C. 5305(a) to the extent necessary to 
make eligible use of no more than $25,000,000 for assistance to promote 
the USVI in general and specific components of the islands, which 
amount shall include any funds expended in accordance with the waiver 
and alternative requirement in paragraph IV.D.16. of the August 2018 
Notice, as amended, that expired May 19, 2022.
    This additional waiver is subject to the following alternative 
requirements. The funding expended under this waiver and alternative 
requirement must be for assistance for tourism marketing, provided the 
assisted activities are designed to support tourism to the disaster-
impacted areas related to the effects of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Any 
CDBG-DR tourism expenditures may not supplant USVI or local government 
funds for tourism marketing. The USVI shall coordinate its tourism 
promotion and marketing activities with its designated Opportunity 
Zones. The grantee must use existing contracts already procured to 
carry out the activities allowed through this waiver and alternative 
requirement unless HUD approves the use of additional contracts in 
writing. Any additional procurement actions related to carrying out 
activities authorized by this waiver and alternative requirement must 
be submitted to HUD for approval to check for compliance with the 
waiver and alternative requirements provided herein. Additionally, no 
elected officials shall appear in tourism marketing materials financed 
with CDBG-DR funds. Given the importance of tourism to the overall 
economy, HUD is authorizing this use of funds without regard to unmet 
housing need. The waiver that expired May 19, 2022, required the 
grantee to develop metrics to demonstrate the impact of CDBG-DR 
expenditures on the tourism sector of the economy and to identify those 
metrics in the initial substantial amendment submitted. The metrics 
developed by the grantee also shall apply to the use of grant funds 
under this waiver and alternative requirement. HUD may further extend 
the waiver and alternative requirements administratively, if requested 
by the USVI and good cause for such an extension exists at that time.
    In addition, although the grantee has not been authorized to draw 
grant funds for its tourism marketing activity since May 20, 2022, as 
of the applicability date of this notice, HUD is adopting a waiver and 
alternative requirement to modify 24 CFR 570.489(b) to the extent 
necessary to permit the grantee to reimburse its costs and the costs of 
its subrecipients from May 22, 2022 through the applicability date of 
this notice to the extent that they comply with the tourism and 
marketing waiver and alternative requirement authorized by this section 
II.A.

II.B. Extension of Waiver and Alternative Requirement Related to Rental 
Assistance to Tenants (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Only)

    The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Commonwealth) has submitted a 
request for an extension of HUD's previously granted waiver and 
alternative requirement authorizing the expansion of the definition of 
public service at 42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(8) to include the ``provision of 
rental assistance to disaster-impacted households for up to 24 
months,'' subject to the 15 percent cap on public services and to 
revise the expiration date for the waiver and alternative requirement 
by one year. The previously granted waiver and alternative requirement 
expires September 30, 2022. While the Commonwealth requested an 
extension for 36 months, HUD has reviewed the good cause justification 
and consulted with the Office of Community Planning and Development's 
(CPD) partners in Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and determined that 
extending this waiver for 12 months would allow enough time for any 
chosen projects to transition to Project-based Vouchers (PBVs), as 
described below. Accordingly, HUD hereby grants an extension of the 
waiver and alternative requirement described in this notice and 
establishes a revised expiration date of September 30, 2023.
    In section VI.4. of the Federal Register notice published on 
February 19, 2019 (84 FR 4836, 4845), the Department granted the 
Commonwealth a waiver of 42 U.S.C. 5305(a)(8) to include the following 
activity: provision of rental assistance to disaster-impacted 
households for up to 24 months, subject to the 15 percent cap on public 
services. The Department granted the original waiver for several 
reasons, including: to support the goal of preventing homelessness and 
minimizing the time that disaster-impacted households are experiencing 
homelessness by providing rental assistance and re-housing services, by 
linking disaster-impacted households with services that can help them 
become stable and self-sufficient, and to provide rental assistance to 
many elderly citizens that were at immediate risk of experiencing 
homelessness because they could not afford to pay rent without 
assistance. The one-year extension provided in this notice continues to 
advance these and other policies that were supported by the original 
waiver.
    In addition, declining economic conditions in the Commonwealth and 
the sustained decrease of Puerto Rico Department of Housing's (PRDOH) 
Law 173 funding, both exacerbated by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, leave 
CDBG-DR as the only available funding source to provide interim rental 
assistance to these low- and moderate-income (LMI) elderly households. 
PRDOH's Law 173 Program subsidizes the rent of thousands of low-income 
elderly tenants in 49 housing facilities for people over the age of 60 
throughout the Commonwealth. The Puerto Rico Public Housing 
Administration (PRPHA) has been in negotiations with PRDOH to provide 
PBVs to address the existing need for rental assistance. A one-year 
extension of the waiver and alternative requirements would meet this 
need temporarily to permit PRPHA and PRDOH to confirm and conclude the 
transaction for PBVs without displacing applicants or program 
participants.
    Based on the good cause summarized above, the Secretary hereby 
extends the waiver and alternative requirements in the February 2019 
Notice for tenant-based rental assistance until September 30, 2023, 
subject to the following additional alternative requirements. The 
Commonwealth shall limit the application intake to properties and 
applicants of existing cases under PRDOH's Law 173. All existing and 
new contracts or award agreements granted under the tenant-based rental 
assistance must provide the benefit for no more than the overall period 
of 36 months (including the 24 months granted in the

[[Page 58818]]

original waiver and the additional 12-month extension granted herein).
    In no case shall the tenant-based rental assistance under this 
waiver and alternative requirements extend beyond the expiration date 
of the waiver, even if a beneficiary has not yet received 36 months of 
assistance. This waiver and the alternative requirements shall remain 
in effect until September 30, 2023, after which the Commonwealth will 
no longer be able to use CDBG-DR funds for any tenant-based rental 
assistance.

Adrianne Todman,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-21044 Filed 9-27-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P