[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 23, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4324-4326]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-01219]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-7092-N-09]
Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
AGENCY: Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD.
ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, as
amended, the Department of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD),
Office of Policy Development & Research (PD&R) is issuing a public
notice of its intent to establish a Privacy Act system of records
titled ``Moving to Work (MTW) Asset Building Cohort Evaluation Data
Files.'' The purpose of the system is to serve as a repository that
stores and maintains statistically analyzed data collected to evaluate
asset building programs implemented by the Public Housing Agencies
(PHAs) participating in the Moving to Work (MTW) Asset Building Cohort.
DATES: Comments will be accepted on or before February 22, 2024. This
proposed action will be effective on the date following the end of the
comment period unless comments are received which result in a contrary
determination.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number, by one
of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the instructions provided on that site to submit comments
electronically.
Fax: 202-619-8365
Email: [email protected].
Mail: Attention: Privacy Office; LaDonne White, Chief Privacy
Officer; Office of the Executive Secretariat; 451 Seventh Street SW,
Room 10139; Washington, DC 20410-0001.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments received will be
posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov. including any
personal information provided.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received go to https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Privacy Office; LaDonne White; 451
Seventh Street SW, Room 10139; Washington, DC 20410; telephone number
(202) 708-3054 (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.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016
authorized HUD to award Moving to Work (MTW) authority to 100
additional Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) by September 2023, and
required that new MTW agencies be selected in cohorts with a specific
policy focus. The participating PHAs will implement either a rent
reporting for credit building program, an opt-out savings account
program, or a PHA-
[[Page 4325]]
designed asset building program. The Asset Building Cohort will test
two types of asset building programs for HUD households, rent reporting
for credit building and an opt-out savings account program. To enable
rigorous evaluation, households will be randomly assigned to
participate in the asset building program or be in the control group.
Households assigned to the opt-out savings account program will be
automatically enrolled and then informed that they have access to
savings that the PHA is depositing into an escrow account for them,
which will be a minimum of $10 a month for two years.
Moving to Work Asset Building Cohort Evaluation Data Files stores
information needed to evaluate the impact of the asset building
programs. The study sample for rent reporting will be drawn from
households who volunteer to have their rental payments reported to
credit agencies to build credit. To rigorously study the impact of rent
reporting, volunteers will be randomly assigned to a treatment group
for whom rental payments are reported or a control group for whom such
reporting does not occur. The rent reporting study will include a
longitudinal panel of families who will participate in qualitative, in-
depth interviews to provide insight into how they understand and
experience rent reporting for credit building. The evaluation of the
MTW Asset Building Cohort will help HUD determine if asset building
programs of the types studied can be effectively implemented by PHAs
and if they positively impact the well-being of HUD-assisted
households.
HUD researchers (including Abt Associates and MEF Associates) will
use this information to examine household outcomes related to housing
stability and financial wellbeing. Researchers will also seek to
understand the experience of households participating in the asset
building programs and the PHAs that implement the asset building
programs. This System of Records will contain data necessary to
evaluate the effect of these new asset building programs.
SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
Moving to Work Asset Building Cohort Evaluation Data Files, HUD/
PDR-11.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Records are maintained at the following locations: Amazon Web
Services, East, N. Virginia, and . 20945 Loudoun County Pkwy, Ashburn,
VA 20147; and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Headquarters, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410.
SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
Carol Star, Director, Program Evaluation Division, Office of Policy
Development and Research, HUD, 451 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC
20410, telephone number (202) 402-6139.
AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
Sections 501 and 502 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of
1970 (Pub. L. 91-609) (12 U.S.C. 1701z-1; 1701z-2(d) and (g)).
PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
The Moving to Work Asset Building Cohort Evaluation data files will
store the information that is needed to evaluate the impact of the
asset building programs on HUD-assisted households. The information to
be maintained in this records system is necessary to identify
participating families and determine the effectiveness of the
interventions. The data in this system will be analyzed using
statistical methods and any results shared with the public or published
in any way will be reported only in the aggregate. Resulting reports
will not disclose or identify any individuals or sensitive personal
information.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Families enrolled in the Moving to Work asset building programs.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Tenant data: Includes enrollment information, administrative data
(including credit scores), and survey responses from tenants,
including: head of household's full name, date of birth, social
security number, unique study ID, home address, household composition,
demographics of household members, measures of financial wellbeing,
educational attainment, employment and income information, housing and
housing subsidy information, receipt of non-housing public benefits,
and contact information.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Moving to Work asset building program participants, HUD PIH
Inventory Management System/PIH Information Center, Public Housing
Agency information systems, Credit Bureau data.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, HUD may disclose information in this system
of records:
(1) Research and Statistical Analysis Disclosure Routine Use:
To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, Federal agencies,
and non-Federal entities, including, but not limited to, State and
local governments and other research institutions or their parties, and
entities and their agents with whom HUD has a contract, service
agreement, grant, or cooperative agreement, or other agreement for the
purposes of statistical analysis and research in support of program
operations, management, performance monitoring, evaluation, risk
management, and policy development, or to otherwise support the
Department's mission. Records under this routine use may not be used in
whole or in part to make decisions that affect the rights, benefits, or
privileges of specific individuals. Research reports and other analysis
conducted under this routine use may not disclose identifiable
information; all results must be reported in the aggregate and must
ensure that no individual is identifiable.
(2) Data Breach Remediation Purposes Routine Use:
(a) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when: (1) HUD
suspects or has confirmed there a breach in the system of records; (2)
HUD has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed
breach there is a risk of harm to individuals, HUD (including its
information systems, programs, and operations), the Federal Government,
or national security; and (3) The disclosure made to such agencies,
entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist with HUD's
efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed breach or to prevent,
minimize, or remedy such harm.
(b) To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when HUD
determines that information from this system of records is reasonably
necessary to assist the recipient agency or entity in (1) responding to
suspected or confirmed breach, or (2) preventing, minimizing, or
remedying the risk of harm to individuals, the recipient agency or
entity (including its information systems, programs, and operations),
the Federal Government, or national security, resulting from a
suspected or confirmed breach.
(3) Contractor Routine Use:
[[Page 4326]]
To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants and their agents, or
others performing or working under a contract, service, grant,
cooperative agreement, or other agreement with HUD, when necessary to
accomplish an agency function related to a system of records.
Disclosure requirements are limited to only those data elements
considered relevant to accomplishing an agency function.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
Electronic and Paper.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
Name, Social Security Number, the unique study ID, home address,
telephone number, and personal email address.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
Temporary. Destroy upon verification of successful creation of the
final document or file, or when no longer needed for business use,
whichever is later.
ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
For Electronic Records: All personal data will be maintained on a
secure workstation or server that is protected by a firewall and
complex passwords in a directory that can only be accessed by the
network administrators and the analysts actively working on the data;
access rights to the data are granted to limited researchers on a need-
to-know basis, and the level of access provided to each researcher is
based on the minimal level required for that individual to fulfill
their research role; all systems used to process or store data have
Federal security controls applied to them; the data will be backed up
on a regular basis to safeguard against system failures or disasters;
and, unencrypted data will never be stored on a laptop or on a movable
media such as CDs, diskettes, or USB flash drives.
For Paper Records: The site interviewers will securely store any
hard copy forms with personal identifiers until they are shipped to the
evaluation contractor via commercial mail services; all hard copy forms
with personal identifying data (the participant agreement/informed
consent form) will be stored securely in a locked cabinet that can only
be accessed by authorized individuals working on the data. The locked
cabinet will be stored in a locked office in a limited-access building.
Additionally, permissions will be defined for each authorized user
based on the user's role on the project. Study data will be aggregated
or de-identified at the highest level possible for each required,
authorized use.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Individuals requesting records of themselves should address written
inquiries to the Department of Housing Urban and Development 451 7th
Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-0001. For verification, individuals
should provide their full name, current address, and telephone number.
In addition, the requester must provide either a notarized statement or
an unsworn declaration made under 24 CFR 16.4.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
The HUD rule for contesting the content of any record pertaining to
the individual by the individual concerned is published in 24 CFR 16.8
or may be obtained from the system manager.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
Individuals requesting notification of records of themselves should
address written inquiries to the Department of Housing Urban
Development, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-0001. For
verification purposes, individuals should provide their full name,
office or organization where assigned, if applicable, and current
address and telephone number. In addition, the requester must provide
either a notarized statement or an unsworn declaration made under 24
CFR 16.4.
EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.
HISTORY:
N/A.
LaDonne L. White,
Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-01219 Filed 1-22-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P