[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71594-71597]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22847]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-7070-N-73]


30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: The Community 
Choice Demonstration; OMB Control No.: 2528-0337

AGENCY: Office of Policy Development and Research, Chief Data Officer, 
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 an additional 30 days of 
public comment.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 16, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Interested 
persons are also invited to submit comments regarding this proposal and 
comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB Control Number 
and should be sent to: Anna Guido, Clearance Officer, REE, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room 8210, 
Washington, DC 20410-5000; email [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna P. Guido, Reports Management 
Officer, REE, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW, Room 8210, Washington, DC 20410; phone number 202-402-5535 
or email: [email protected]. This is not a toll-free 
number, HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from individuals 
who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or 
communication disabilities. To learn more about how to make an 
accessible telephone call, please visit: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs.
    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.
    The Federal Register notice that solicited public comment on the 
information collection for a period of 60 days was published on June 
22, 2023 at 88 FR 40841.

A. Overview of Information Collection

    Title of Information Collection: The Community Choice 
Demonstration.
    OMB Approval Number: 2528-0337.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Form Number: N/A.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: The 
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has contracted 
with Abt Associates to conduct an evaluation of its Community Choice 
Demonstration (formerly Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration). 
This proposed information collection involves three instruments that 
will be administered to subsets of households participating in the 
Demonstration: a Home Assessment, a Child Assessment, and an Obesity 
and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment.\1\ The Home Assessment will 
assess how moving to an opportunity area affects exposure to pest 
allergens and indoor pollutants that may impact health conditions among 
low-income children. The Child Assessment will assess how moving to an 
opportunity area may affect children's conduct problems and physical 
and mental health. The Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment 
will assess how moving to an opportunity area affects the risk of 
obesity and type II diabetes (primarily for the head of household and 
secondarily for one child in each household).
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    \1\ As discussed below, the Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk 
Assessment is also known as the Mobility Opportunity Vouchers for 
Eliminating Disparities (MOVED) study.
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    The Home and Child Assessments are funded by HUD and being 
conducted by Abt Associates. HUD's contract with Abt Associates 
provides flexibility to explore collaborations with other researchers 
and funders to support additional knowledge-building efforts that build 
on the foundation laid by the Demonstration so long as they advance 
important research objectives, do not interfere with the core 
Demonstration, and are structured in a way that minimizes overall 
respondent burden. The Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment 
represents one such collaboration; it is funded by the National 
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) \2\ and 
led by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) as part of a study called the 
Mobility Opportunity Vouchers for Eliminating Disparities (MOVED) 
study. The data collection for the MOVED study will also be conducted 
by Abt. While NIH-funded studies do not normally require the submission 
of an information collection request for compliance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, we are including the Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk 
Assessment as part of this information collection request because it 
will be administered to a subset of households participating in the 
HUD-funded Demonstration. In addition, the Child Assessment will be 
administered during the same visit, to the same households, and by the 
same interviewers as the Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment.
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    \2\ The NIDDK grant number is R01DK136610.
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Background on Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration

    The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (Pub. L. 116-6) and the 
Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Pub. L. 116-94) 
authorized the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 
to implement and evaluate the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Mobility 
Demonstration (now referred to as the Community Choice Demonstration or 
CCD or ``Demonstration''). The primary purpose of the Demonstration is 
to provide voucher assistance and mobility-related services to families 
with children to encourage families to move to lower-poverty areas and 
expand their access to opportunity areas. The Demonstration will be 
evaluated using a mix of methods, including a random assignment impact 
study, a process study, and a cost analysis. The Demonstration has two 
phases: In Phase 1, currently underway, enrolled families are being 
assigned to two groups: one group that is offered Comprehensive 
Mobility Related Services (CMRS), and a control group that is offered 
usual

[[Page 71595]]

PHA services. In Phase 2, scheduled to begin in the fall of 2024, a 
second treatment group will be added that runs concurrently with the 
CMRS and control groups, in which families will be offered selected 
mobility-related services (SMRS). (In Phase 2, families will be 
randomly assigned to one of three groups: CMRS, SMRS, or the control 
group.) Phase 1 of the study is evaluating whether the offer of CMRS 
helps families with children access and remain in opportunity areas and 
exploring which services appear to be most effective and cost-
effective. Phase 2 will evaluate the effectiveness of SMRS and compare 
the outcomes of CMRS and SMRS. For more information on the underlying 
housing mobility demonstration program, see HUD's website at https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv/communitychoicedemo and https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/public-housing/housing-mobility-toolkit/.
    On May 31, 2022 and June 9, 2022, OMB approved the administration 
of a series of data collection instruments as part of the 
Demonstration; OMB approved non-substantive changes to this information 
collection in October 2022. The OMB Control # is 2528-0337 and expires 
June 30, 2025. OMB approved non-substantive changes to this information 
collection in October 2022.

Revised Information Collection Request

    Through this revised information collection request, we are seeking 
approval for three new assessments: a Home Assessment, a Child 
Assessment, and an Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment. The 
collection of information through these three assessments, and through 
the underlying Demonstration, will be closely coordinated to minimize 
burden on families and ensure there is no duplication in data 
collection across each of the assessments and between the assessments 
and the Demonstration.
    We seek approval for two rounds of data collection (baseline and 
follow-up assessments) for each of these three assessments, which are 
described in more detail below.

Home Assessment

    The Home Assessment will be administered at two of the eight 
Demonstration sites and include the heads of household of an estimated 
570 households. Households selected to participate in the Home 
Assessment will be contacted shortly after random assignment in the 
Demonstration for a baseline Home Assessment that will include three 
components: direct measurements of pest allergens and indoor air 
quality, a brief survey, and observations noted by the interviewer. The 
same data collection will be repeated approximately 12 months later.
    The direct assessment will measure (1) temperature and relative 
humidity, (2) carbon dioxide, (3) carbon monoxide, (4) mouse and 
cockroach allergens, (5) particulate matter, and (6) volatile organic 
compounds (chemicals that enter the air from paints, cleaners, etc.). 
The brief survey will obtain information from the parent or guardian on 
risk factors for asthma and other respiratory conditions and child 
health conditions, such as exposure to cigarette smoke through smokers 
in the household or building. The interviewer observations will focus 
on risk factors for asthma and respiratory conditions and housing and 
neighborhood quality.

Child Assessment

    The Child Assessment will be conducted at three Demonstration sites 
that are different from those of the Home Assessment to minimize the 
reporting burden on participating families. The Child Assessment will 
be administered to one child and to the parent or guardian of that 
child in each of an estimated 837 households who have a child between 
ages 2 and 15. The study team will conduct in-person visits over a 3.5-
year data collection period, at two points in time: at baseline and at 
a 2-year follow up. The Child Assessment will involve a survey about a 
prespecified focal child and a direct assessment of that child's 
executive functioning. Most of the questions on the survey will be 
asked of the parent or guardian, with some questions being asked 
directly of children.

Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment

    The Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment will be 
administered to the same households that are participating in the Child 
Assessment during the same visit. The Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk 
Assessment will also be administered to some households that do not 
have a child in the age range specified for the Child Assessment and to 
some families that decline to participate in the Child Assessment. As 
with the Child Assessment, the data collection will focus on one child 
in each household along with the parent or guardian of that child. The 
Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment, which is expected to be 
administered to a total of 900 households, includes:

 an adult survey
 anthropometric assessments (height, weight, and waist 
circumference) of the adult and one focal child
 blood spot samples to test HbA1c levels (a measure of diabetes 
risk) of the adult
 blood pressure readings
 observations noted by the interviewer, and
 accelerometer data on a sub-set of 400 adults and 400 
children.

    At the 2-year follow-up visit, the study team will conduct a 
follow-up Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment that will 
include the same components with all households that can be located and 
agree to participate. In addition, semi-structured interviews will be 
conducted with a subset of 75 households. The interviews will dive 
deeper into the factors explored in the survey that are potentially 
associated with obesity and Type II diabetes risk in order to better 
understand the mechanisms which impact health and well-being.
    Hourly Cost per Response: The estimated total annual burden of this 
information collection is 279,892.89 hours. The estimated total annual 
cost for this information collection is $1,588,630.99. The estimated 
total annual cost is calculated by multiplying the total number of 
respondent hours for adults by $11.05. The hourly rate of $11.05 was 
calculated using the average hourly minimum wage rate for households in 
the Housing Choice voucher program living in the 8 study sites.\3\ 
Annualized cost estimates were not calculated for the child sample. The 
child sample eligible to participate in the study will be under the age 
of 18. Most, if not all, will be enrolled in school and working part-
time at the most. Thus, we did not calculate an hourly wage for the 
child sample.
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    \3\ Hourly minimum wage rates were averaged across the eight 
study sites, which include Los Angeles, Louisiana, Minnesota, New 
York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
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    Respondents: Selected adults and children who have enrolled in the 
Demonstration and are either (1) offered comprehensive mobility-related 
services along with their voucher or (2) offered standard PHA services 
along with their voucher.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The baseline and follow-up 
assessments for the Home, Child, and the Obesity and Type II Diabetes 
Risk Assessments will be completed for an estimated 2,370 respondents. 
This consists of 570 heads of household participating in the Home 
Assessment and 900 parents or guardians and 900 children

[[Page 71596]]

participating in the Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment. We 
estimate that the Child Assessment will be administered to 837 
households that also participate in the Obesity and Type II Diabetes 
Risk Assessment, so they are already included in the estimated number 
of respondents above.
    Frequency of Response: Twice (baseline and follow-up).
    Average Hours per Response:
     The Home Assessment includes an advance letter (5 minutes 
or .08 hours), an email (1 minute or .02 hours), and a follow-up call 
from the research team (8 minutes or .13 hours). It also includes the 
consent (10 minutes or .17 hours), direct measurement (30 minutes or .5 
hours), interviewer observations (10 minutes or .17 hours) and a brief 
survey (15 minutes or .25 hours) representing a total respondent burden 
of 1.32 hours. The burden table reflects the evaluation contractor's 
estimate that it may need to conduct initial outreach, via emails, 
letters, and phone calls, to up to 814 families in order to recruit 570 
families to participate in the Home Assessment.
     The Child Assessment includes the consent (8 minutes or 
.13 hours), survey about child (asked of parent/guardian) and parent/
guardian's presence during direct child assessment (a total of 45 
minutes or .75 hours), and the direct child assessment (22 minutes or 
.37 hours for the child). This represents a total respondent burden of 
75 minutes or 1.25 hours. Consent for the Child Assessment and the 
Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment will be obtained at the 
same time, through the same instrument; we have apportioned the total 
time estimate for the combined instrument across the two assessments.
    The Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment includes an 
advance letter (5 minutes or .08 hours), an email (1 minute or .02 
hours), and a follow-up call from the research team (8 minutes or .13 
hours). It also includes the consent and enrollment (15 minutes or .25 
hours); adult survey (60 minutes or 1 hour); anthropometric assessments 
for adults (10 minutes or 0.17 hours) and children (10 minutes or 0.17 
hours and 10 minutes or .17 hours for the parent or guardian who must 
also be present); and blood spot sample of the adult (10 minutes or 
0.17 hours). The Home observations/housing assessment of the home will 
take 15 minutes (.25 hours). For the subset of 400 adults and 400 
children selected to wear an accelerometer, we estimate a total of 1 
hour to put on and return the accelerometer. Returning the 
accelerometer will involve the participant placing the device in the 
self-addressed, postpaid return envelope that the interviewer provided 
and mailing it back to the study team. We have also included the full 
burden of participants wearing the accelerometer for 7 days for a total 
burden of 169 hours per participant in the accelerometer sub-group. We 
expect the blood pressure reading to take 15 minutes or .25 hours. For 
the sub-set of 75 adults that are interviewed as part of the semi-
structured interviews, consent is expected to take 10 minutes (or .17 
hours) and the interviews are expected to take 60-90 minutes, or 1-1.5 
hours. Finally, we have included quarterly tracking emails/texts or 
calls between the baseline survey and the follow-up survey that remind 
participants to confirm or update their name, address, phone, and 
email. The tracking also allows them to provide the name, address and 
phone number of someone who will always know how to reach them. We 
estimate the burden to be 8 minutes or .13 hours for tracking emails/
texts and 10 minutes or .17 hours for tracking calls. The burden table 
reflects the evaluation contractor's estimate that it may need to 
conduct initial outreach, via emails, letters, and phone calls, to up 
to 1,285 families in order to recruit 900 families to participate in 
the Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment.
    Respondents: Public.

                                                                 Annualized Burden Table
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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     Annual cost
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                                                                     Home Assessment
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Advance Letter..........................             814               2           1,628            0.08          130.24          $11.05       $1,439.15
Email Reminder..........................             814               2           1,628            0.02           32.56           11.05          359.79
Follow-up Call Phone Script.............             814               2           1,628            0.13          211.64           11.05        2,338.62
Consent for Assessment..................             570               2           1,140            0.17          193.80           11.05        2,141.49
Direct Measurements.....................             570               2           1,140            0.50          570.00           11.05        6,298.50
Interviewer Observations................             570               2           1,140            0.17          193.80           11.05        2,141.49
Survey..................................             570               2           1,140            0.25          285.00           11.05        3,149.25
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                                                                    Child Assessment
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Consent for Assessment..................             837               2           1,674            0.13          217.62           11.05        2,404.70
Survey about child (asked of parent/                 837               2           1,674            0.75        1,255.50           11.05       13,873.28
 guardian) and parent/guardian's
 presence during direct Child Assessment
Direct Child Assessment.................             837               2           1,674            0.37          619.38             N/A  ..............
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                                                    The Obesity and Type II Diabetes Risk Assessment
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Advance Letter..........................           1,285               2           2,570            0.08          205.60           11.05        2,271.88
Email Reminder..........................           1,285               2           2,570            0.02           51.40           11.05          567.97
Follow-up Call Phone Script.............           1,285               2           2,570            0.13          334.10           11.05        3,691.81
Consent for Assessment..................             900               2           1,800            0.25          450.00           11.05        4,972.50
Adult Survey............................             900               2           1,800            1.00        1,800.00           11.05       19,890.00
Anthropometric assessments (adult)......             900               2           1,800            0.17          306.00           11.05        3,381.30
Anthropometric assessments (child)......             900               2           1,800            0.17          306.00             N/A  ..............
Anthropometric assessments (child, but               900               2           1,800            0.17          306.00           11.05        3,381.30
 accounting for parent's time)..........
Blood Spot Samples (adult)..............             900               2           1,800            0.17          306.00           11.05        3,381.30
Home Observations/Housing Assessment....             900               2           1,800            0.25          450.00           11.05        4,972.50
Accelerometers (adult)..................             400               2             800          169.00      135,200.00           11.05    1,493,960.00
Accelerometers (child)..................             400               2             800          169.00      135,200.00             N/A  ..............
Blood Pressure Reading (adult)..........             900               2           1,800            0.25          450.00           11.05        4,972.50
Consent for Semi-Structured Interviews..              75               1              75            0.17           12.75           11.05          140.89
Semi-Structured Interviews..............              75               1              75            1.50          112.50           11.05        1,243.13

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Tracking Emails/Texts...................             900               2           1,800            0.13          234.00           11.05        2,585.70
    Tracking Calls......................             900               3           2,700            0.17          459.00           11.05        5,071.95
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    Totals..............................           2,936  ..............          42,826  ..............      279,892.89  ..............    1,588,630.99
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B. Solicitation of Public Comment

    This notice is soliciting 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 through the use of appropriate 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.
    (5) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    HUD encourages interested parties to submit comments in response to 
these questions.

C. Authority

    Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35.

Anna P. Guido,
Department Reports Management Office, Office of Policy Development and 
Research, Chief Data Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-22847 Filed 10-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P