[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79446-79447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28138]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2)

AGENCY: Office of Recovery Programs, U.S. Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on this continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995. The public is invited to submit comments on the 
collection(s) listed below.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before January 26, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, or any other 
aspect of the information collection, including suggestions for 
reducing the burden, to Melody Braswell, Treasury PRA Clearance 
Officer, 1750 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 8142, Washington, DC 20220, 
or email at [email protected]. Copies of submissions may be obtained 
from Jeff Schroeder by emailing [email protected] or 
viewing the entire information collection request at www.reginfo.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 11, 2021, the President signed the 
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the ``Act'') into law. The Act 
authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse $21.55 billion of 
Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) to States, the District of Columbia, 
U.S. Territories, and certain local governments with more

[[Page 79447]]

than 200,000 residents (collectively, ``grantees'') to provide 
financial assistance and housing stability services to eligible 
households. Beginning on October 1, 2022, eligible ERA2 grantees that 
have obligated 75% of the ERA2 funds allocated to them may also use 
their remaining unobligated funds on other affordable rental housing 
and eviction prevention activities, as defined by the Secretary, 
serving very low-income families.
    Title: Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2).
    OMB Control Number: 1505-0270.
    Type of Review: Revision a previously approved collection.

Quarterly Reporting

Description

    All ERA2 grantees must submit quarterly reports to Treasury 
detailing their uses of funds to ensure their compliance with the ERA2 
Award Terms, the Act, and other applicable requirements. To collect 
this information, Treasury developed ERA2 quarterly report forms, the 
accompanying bulk upload templates, and associated guidance. Grantees 
are required to submit the quarterly reports electronically via 
Treasury's portal. The current OMB control number for the ERA2 
quarterly report forms will expire on December 30, 2022.
    Treasury is requesting OMB's approval of additions to and an 
extension of the ERA2 quarterly report data collection forms. The 
proposed additions include new questions necessary to monitor the 
grantees' uses of ERA2 funds to support affordable rental housing and 
eviction prevention activities starting on October 1, 2022, as 
authorized by the Act. The remainder of the report, which has been 
previously approved by OMB, is unchanged.
    All information collected through the quarterly reporting is 
crucial to Treasury's effective monitoring of the ERA2 grantees' 
compliance with the requirements of the ERA2 award.
    Form: Interim Reports,\1\ ERA2 Quarterly Reports, Bulk Upload 
Template, and Guidance.
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    \1\ Treasury is not currently collecting interim reports but is 
seeking approval of the documents in the event that they become 
necessary again in the future. Accordingly, they are not accounted 
for in the hourly burden calculations.
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    Affected Public: States, Territories, and local governments who 
received ERA2 awards.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 376.
    Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,504.
    Estimated Time per Response: 30 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 45,120 hours.

Reallocation

Description

    The Act requires Treasury to reallocate funds initially allocated, 
but not yet paid, to eligible grantees, according to a procedure 
established by Treasury. Pursuant to the reallocation procedure 
Treasury has established, Treasury identifies funds subject to 
reallocation on a quarterly basis and refers to them as ``excess 
funds.'' To identify the eligible grantees interested in receiving 
reallocated funds, Treasury solicits Request for Reallocation forms 
through its ERA2 program portal, which capture the amount of each 
grantee's request as well as information confirming that a requesting 
grantee meets certain eligibility requirements, including the statutory 
requirement that a grantee obligate at least 50% of its initial ERA2 
allocation before receiving reallocated funds.
    In addition to confirming grantees' eligibility to receive 
reallocated funds, the reallocation forms on Treasury's ERA2 portal 
allow Treasury to collect information needed to determine which 
grantees to prioritize in the distribution of reallocated funds. 
Treasury's prioritization calculation considers: whether potential 
recipient grantees are located in the same state as transferor 
grantees; potential recipient grantees' rate of expenditure; and 
potential recipient grantees' jurisdictional needs. Pursuant to 
Treasury's ERA2 program guidance, starting with reallocation based on 
data as of June 30, 2022 (known as the Quarter 2 Assessment), Treasury 
will also prioritize, among eligible grantees, those grantees that have 
expended non-ERA funds, including State and Local Fiscal Recovery 
Funds, for rental or utility assistance substantially similar to 
eligible uses under ERA1 \2\ or ERA2 since the enactment of the ERA1 
statute on December 27, 2020, in an amount exceeding 20% of their 
initial ERA2 allocation. To receive this prioritization, a grantee must 
submit to Treasury a certification of, among other things, the amount 
of non-ERA funding expended on rental or utility assistance 
substantially similar to eligible uses under ERA1 or ERA2, the sources 
of these expenditures, and the number of households served. To 
implement this prioritization system for the Quarter 2 Assessment and 
subsequent reallocation cycles, Treasury has developed a form for its 
reallocation portal to collect information needed to confirm that a 
requesting eligible grantee is entitled to prioritization based on its 
non-ERA expenditures.
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    \2\ ``ERA1'' refers to the Emergency Rental Assistance program 
authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Pub. L. 
116-260, section 501, 134 Stat. 2069 (Dec. 27, 2020).
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    In addition to the above-described reallocation process, some 
grantees choose to voluntarily reallocate a portion of their ERA2 
allocations to one or more eligible grantees. To that end, Treasury has 
also developed, within its reallocation portal, a standard form that 
grantees use to initiate voluntary reallocation. In accordance with 
statutory requirements, a grantee may transfer up to 60% of its initial 
ERA2 allocation.
    OMB approved the usage of these various reallocation forms on June 
16, 2022. Since then, Treasury has made de minimis changes accounting 
for the passage of time and other program developments, none of which 
substantively alter the forms.
    Accordingly, the collection of the above-described information is 
crucial to the reallocation process, which is a central component of 
the ERA2 program.
    Forms: Request for Voluntary Reallocation; Request for Reallocated 
Funds; Request for Reallocated Funds--Voluntary; Non-ERA Expenditures 
Report.
    Affected Public: States, Territories and local governments who 
received ERA2 awards.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 482.
    Frequency of Response: Once.
    Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 982.
    Estimated Time per Response: Varies from 10-60 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 524.4 hours.
    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

Melody Braswell,
Treasury PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-28138 Filed 12-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-25-P