[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 233 (Monday, December 7, 2009)]
[Unknown Section]
[Pages 64246-64249]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X09-111207]
[[Page 64246]]
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD)
Statement of Regulatory Priorities
The Regulatory Plan for the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 highlights the most significant
regulations and policy initiatives that HUD seeks to complete during
the upcoming fiscal year. As the federal agency that serves as the
nation's housing agency, committed to addressing the housing needs of
Americans, promoting economic and community development, and enforcing
the nation's fair housing laws, HUD plays a significant role in the
lives of families and in communities throughout America. The
Department's program and initiatives help to provide decent, safe, and
sanitary housing, and create suitable living environments for all
Americans. HUD expands housing opportunities for Americans by enforcing
fair housing laws that operate to eliminate housing discrimination. HUD
also provides housing and other essential support to a wide range of
individuals and families with special needs, including homeless
individuals, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.
Secretary Donovan has directed that HUD must have a balanced,
comprehensive national housing policy, one that supports and preserves
sustainable homeownership, but also provides affordable rental housing,
with a focus on preservation of developments that are integral to
sustainability, such as those adjacent to significant transportation
options, or with great access to jobs. Increasing the availability of
affordable rental housing provides a means of addressing the increase
in homelessness.
HUD's Regulatory Plan for FY2010 reflects one step in achieving this
balanced, comprehensive national housing policy, and is based on major
legislation recently enacted that supports such a policy.
Priority: Preserving and Expanding Affordable Rental Housing and
Increasing Homeownership
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) establishes a
Housing Trust Fund to be administered by HUD, for the purpose of
providing grants to states to increase and preserve the supply of
rental housing for extremely low- and very low-income families,
including homeless families, and to increase homeownership for
extremely low- and very low-income families. Although the Housing Trust
Fund supports both increases in rental housing and homeownership, the
primary focus of the Housing Trust Fund is rental housing for extremely
low- and very low-income households, since HERA provides that no more
than 10 percent of each formula allocation may be expended on
homeownership.
HERA charges HUD to establish, through regulation, the formula for
distribution of Housing Trust Fund grants to states. HERA specifies
that only certain factors are to be part of the formula, and it
designates certain factors as priority factors. In addition to the
charge to establish a formula by rule, the statute also directs HUD to
issue regulations to carry out the statutory requirements applicable to
use of Housing Trust Fund grants. Eligible trust fund activities
include production, preservation, and rehabilitation of housing for
rental housing and homeownership through new construction, acquisition,
and acquisition and rehabilitation.
Regulatory Action: Housing Trust Fund - Allocation Formula and Program
Requirements
HUD will issue two rules, as provided by statute. The first rule will
address the formula by which Housing Trust Fund grant will be allocated
to the states. The second rule will provide for implementation of the
program requirements. Both rules will provide the opportunity for
public comment. The Housing Trust Fund represents a bipartisan
enactment of possibly the most significant new federal housing
production program since the creation of the HOME Investment
Partnerships program in 1990. Capitalization of this fund through
appropriations and regulatory implementation will constitute a major
step toward increasing the supply of affordable housing.
Priority: Expanding Affordable Housing by Building Upon Success
The HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, authorized by the
Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act, is the largest
federal block grant to state and local governments designed exclusively
to create affordable housing for low-income households. Each year, the
HOME program allocates approximately $2 billion among the states and
hundreds of localities nationwide. The program was designed to
reinforce several important values and principles of community
development, including empowering people and communities to design and
implement strategies tailored to their own needs and priorities;
emphasizing the importance of consolidated planning, which expands and
strengthens partnerships among all levels of government and the private
sector in the development of affordable housing; and, through matching
funds, mobilizing community resources in support of affordable housing.
HOME is a highly successful program through which nearly 912,000
affordable housing units for low- and very low-income households have
been provided since 1992.
Regulatory Action: HOME Investment Partnerships - Improving Performance
and Accountability; Updating Property Standards and Instituting Energy
Efficiency Standards
The Department will publish significant proposed amendments to the HOME
Program regulations. These regulations were last revised in 1996. This
proposed rule would establish new performance standards for the use of
HOME program funds, including establishing expeditious but responsible
use of funds to provide new affordable housing opportunities, and would
ensure that future HOME units are energy efficient and incorporate
green building techniques.
Priority: Housing the Homelessness
The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act
of 2009 (HEARTH Act) was enacted on May 20, 2009. The HEARTH Act
reauthorizes the homeless assistance programs administered by HUD under
the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and consolidates these
programs into a single grant program. The consolidated program, which
consists of an Emergency Solutions Grant program, a Continuum of Care
program, and a Rural Housing Stability program, is designed to ensure
that the range of needs of homeless persons continue to be addressed
while providing for consolidated application and administration to ease
administrative burden and improve coordination among providers and,
consequently, increase the effectiveness of responding to the needs of
homeless persons.
In addition to consolidating HUD's Supportive Housing Program, Shelter
Plus Care, and the Moderate Rehabilitation/Single Room Occupancy
Program into a single Continuum of Care program, key features of the
HEARTH Act include: revising HUD's definition of homelessness by
including people at imminent risk of losing their
[[Page 64247]]
housing, as well as families or youth who live in precarious situations
and are unlikely to become stable; establishing the Rural Housing
Stability Assistance Program, which provides rural communities with
greater flexibility in using homeless assistance funds to address the
needs of homeless people or those in the worst housing situations in
their communities; authorizing that up to 20 percent of funds may be
used to prevent homelessness or rapidly re-house people who become
homeless through the new Emergency Solution Grants; and codifying HUD's
Continuum of Care process, established administratively by HUD in 1995.
Regulatory Action: Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition
to Housing Program; Consolidation of HUD Homeless Assistance Programs
The HEARTH Act directs HUD to implement this program through
rulemaking. HUD will issue two rules to implement this new program. The
definition of homelessness, which is key to ensuring that the goals and
objectives of the new statute are met, will be issued first as a
separate rule for comment. HUD will follow this single issue rule with
a larger rule that provides for HUD's implementation of the program
requirements. The funding for this new program and HUD's implementation
through rulemaking, as directed by statute, will provide communities
with new resources and better tools to prevent and end homelessness.
Aggregate Costs and Benefits
Executive Order 12866, as amended, requires the agency to provide its
best estimate of the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all
regulations included in the agency's Regulatory Plan that will be made
effective in calendar year 2010. HUD expects that the neither the total
economic costs nor the total efficiency gains will exceed $100 million.
HUD anticipates that, over the next twelve months, only one rule
included in its Regulatory Plan, the Housing Trust Fund will have an
economically significant impact. HUD's choice of an allocation formula
has an impact on the distribution of over $100 million of transfers.
The two additional rules on the Regulatory Plan are not anticipated to
have an economically significant impact. HUD believes that the HOME
Investment Partnerships will impose only minor costs in the form
performance standards and economically insignificant benefits in the
form of energy savings. The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid
Transition to Housing Program will lead to greater efficiency in the
administration of housing assistance programs, but these savings are
not expected to be economically significant.
The Priority Regulations That Comprise HUD's FY 2010 Regulatory Plan
A more detailed description of the priority regulations that comprise
HUD's FY 2010 Regulatory Plan follows.
_______________________________________________________________________
HUD--Office of the Secretary (HUDSEC)
-----------
PROPOSED RULE STAGE
-----------
86. HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS--IMPROVING PERFORMANCE AND
ACCOUNTABILITY; UPDATING PROPERTY STANDARDS AND INSTITUTING ENERGY
EFFICIENCY STANDARDS (FR-5234)
Priority:
Other Significant
Legal Authority:
42 USC 12701 to 12839; 42 USC 3535(d)
CFR Citation:
24 CFR 92
Legal Deadline:
None
Abstract:
The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990
authorized the HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, an
affordable housing block grant under which funds are allocated to
states and units of local government by formula. The program has been
funded each year since 1992. The program operated under a series of
interim rules until 1996, when a final rule was promulgated. This rule
would amend HOME regulations to implement performance standards and
require more timely housing production. It would also update the
property standards to incorporate green building techniques and energy-
efficiency standards for HOME-assisted units.
Statement of Need:
The Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act notes that there
is critical need to increase the supply of decent, safe, and sanitary
housing for all Americans, particularly among low-income families. HOME
funds may be used for a variety of housing activities, including rental
assistance, housing rehabilitation, assistance to homebuyers, new
construction, and to support states and units of local government
implement local housing strategies designed to increase homeownership
and affordable housing opportunities. The HOME program is now in its
18th year of funding. This rulemaking is needed to move the program
forward by providing greater clarity, establishing and improving
performance standards, and providing participating jurisdictions with
the tools they need to address troubled projects. The rule would update
builder standards for HOME-assisted facilities to incorporate energy
efficiency and green building standards.
Summary of Legal Basis:
Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act
authorizes funding to participating jurisdictions for various housing
purposes, including strengthening public-private partnerships to
increase the supply of affordable housing, including homeownership. The
goals of the program include expanding the supply of decent, safe,
sanitary, and affordable housing, primarily for very low-income and
low-income Americans and to strengthen the abilities of states and
units of local government to design and implement local strategies for
achieving an adequate supply of decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable
housing.
Alternatives:
These changes can be implemented only by regulatory amendment. Other
options considered included maintaining the status quo. However, after
eleven years of experience under the currently codified rule, HUD has
identified a need to increase accountability with respect to
performance. Moreover, to ensure that these performance standards are
effective, the program will need clear regulatory requirements to base
an action against a grantee. The rule would reflect these policy goals.
Anticipated Cost and Benefits:
No increased costs are anticipated as a result of the changes related
to performance standards. There may be some incremental costs
associated with the imposition of green building technologies and
energy-efficiency measures. However, those costs will be offset by
lower operating costs for
[[Page 64248]]
energy-efficient housing and increased affordability for low- and very
low-income families.
Risks:
This rule poses no risk to public health, safety, or the environment.
Timetable:
_______________________________________________________________________
Action Date FR Cite
_______________________________________________________________________
NPRM 02/00/10
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required:
No
Small Entities Affected:
No
Government Levels Affected:
None
Agency Contact:
Virginia Sardone
Deputy Director, Office of Community Planning and Development, Office
of Affordable Housing Programs
Department of Housing and Urban Development
HUD, 451 7th St SW
Washington, DC 20410
Phone: 202 708-2470
RIN: 2501-AC94
_______________________________________________________________________
HUD--Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD)
-----------
PROPOSED RULE STAGE
-----------
87. HOUSING TRUST FUND PROGRAM--ALLOCATION FORMULA AND PROGRAM
REQUIREMENTS (FR-5246)
Priority:
Economically Significant. Major under 5 USC 801.
Legal Authority:
12 USC 4568; 42 USC 3535(d)
CFR Citation:
24 CFR 93
Legal Deadline:
Final, Statutory, June 30, 2009, Regulations describing Formula
Distribution; however, funds are not available to or appropriated for
the Housing Trust Fund.
Abstract:
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) establishes a
Housing Trust Fund. Section 1338 of HERA directs HUD to establish and
manage a Housing Trust Fund, which is to be funded with amounts
allocated by the government-sponsored enterprises or by any amounts
that may be appropriated, transferred, or credited to the Housing Trust
Fund under any other provision of law. The purpose of the Housing Trust
Fund is to provide grants to states for use to: (1) increase and
preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and very low-
income families, including homeless families; and (2) increase
homeownership for extremely low- and very low-income families. The
primary focus of the Housing Trust Fund is rental housing for extremely
low- and very low-income households. HERA provides that no more than 10
percent of each formula allocation may be expended on homeownership.
HERA charges HUD to establish, by July 2009, and, through regulation,
the formula for the distribution of the Housing Trust Fund grants to
states, and to follow that rule with one that implements the Housing
Trust Fund program requirements.
Statement of Need:
In enacting Housing Trust Fund legislation, Congress determined that
the national housing policy of the past several years was overly
focused on homeownership and did not provide adequate attention to the
need of renters and the need for affordable rental housing. The Housing
Trust Fund legislation, as signed into law, provides increased
resources to be directed to the preservation and expansion of
affordable rental housing.
Summary of Legal Basis:
The rules implementing the Housing Trust Fund formula allocation and
establishing the program requirements are mandated by HERA.
Alternatives:
HERA requires implementation of both the formula and the program
requirements by regulation. Accordingly, this rule fulfills a statutory
mandate to proceed with rulemaking to codify the policies and
procedures governing the HTF. The prescriptive statutory language of
HERA limits the policy options considered by HUD. Areas in which the
statute provides some discretion and the Department is considering
alternatives include: (1) the contents of the statutorily mandated
allocation plans to be submitted by states and state designated
entities; (2) the eligible activities that may be carried out with HTF
funds; and (3) appropriate benchmarks and performance goals for the use
of HTF funds.
Anticipated Cost and Benefits:
The benefit of this program is the increase in affordable rental
housing, which will present savings to low-income and very low-income
individuals with respect to amount of income they spend on housing, and
contribution to the prevention of homelessness, which has increased as
the unemployment rate has risen. The economic impact of the Housing
Trust Fund consists of a transfer from the taxpayer, through State
governments, to extremely low- and very low-income families. By
expanding and preserving the supply of housing and lowering financial
barriers to homeownership, the Housing Trust Fund will reduce the
housing costs of extremely low- and very low-income families, and thus
raise the consumer surplus of the program's beneficiaries.
Risks:
This rule poses no risk to public health, safety, or the environment.
Timetable:
_______________________________________________________________________
Action Date FR Cite
_______________________________________________________________________
NPRM 01/00/10
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required:
No
Small Entities Affected:
No
Government Levels Affected:
Local, State, Tribal
Agency Contact:
Marcia Sigal
Director, Program Policy Division, Office of Affordable Housing
Programs
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Community Planning and Development
HUD, 451 7th St. Street
Washington, DC 20410
Phone: 202 708-2470
Fax: 202 708-1744
RIN: 2506-AC23
[[Page 64249]]
_______________________________________________________________________
HUD--CPD
88. HOMELESS EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE AND RAPID TRANSITION TO
HOUSING PROGRAM; CONSOLIDATION OF HUD HOMELESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS (FR-
5333)
Priority:
Other Significant
Legal Authority:
42 USC 11371 et seq.; 42 USC 3535(d)
CFR Citation:
24 CFR 577 to 579
Legal Deadline:
Final, Statutory, May 20, 2010, Regulations governing operation of
programs created or affected by HEARTH Act of 2009.
Abstract:
The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act
of 2009 (HEARTH Act) reauthorizes the homeless assistance programs
administered by HUD under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act,
and consolidates these programs into a single grant program. The
consolidated program, which consists of an Emergency Solutions Grant
Program, a Continuum of Care Program, and a Rural Housing Stability
Program, is designed to ensure that the range of needs of homeless
persons continue to be addressed, but provides for consolidated grant
application and administration to ease administrative burden and
improve coordination among providers and, consequently, increase the
effectiveness of responses to the needs of homeless persons.
HUD will issue two rules to implement this new program. One rule will
solely address the definitions of ``homeless,'' ``homeless
individual,'' and ``homeless person,'' the meaning of which are
essential to the coverage provided by this program. The second rule
will establish the regulatory framework to implement the program.
Statement of Need:
These rules are needed to fully implement the Homeless Emergency
Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act).
The HEARTH Act requires that HUD issue implementing regulations
governing the operations of the programs it creates or modifies by no
later than twelve months after the date of enactment.
Summary of Legal Basis:
The rules implementing the consolidated McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance programs are mandated by the HEARTH Act.
Alternatives:
The HEARTH Act requires implementation of the program by rulemaking.
Accordingly, this rule will assist in meeting the statutory mandate to
proceed with rulemaking to codify the policies and procedures governing
the HEARTH Act. The prescriptive statutory language of the HEARTH Act
limits policy options available; however, HUD is considering options
where the HEARTH Act provides discretion including: (1) determining the
appropriate remedial action to ensure the fair distribution of
assistance for geographic areas that do not meet the requirements for
funding or where there is no collaborative applicant for a geographic
area, and (2) establishing the dates by which the recipient or project
sponsor must expend grants for a homeless assistance.
Anticipated Cost and Benefits:
The consolidated homeless assistance program authorized by the HEARTH
Act is designed to more rapidly respond to the needs of the homeless
and, therefore, prevent homelessness and, initially, prevent the rise
in the number of homeless persons.
Risks:
This rule poses no risk to public health, safety, or the environment.
Timetable:
_______________________________________________________________________
Action Date FR Cite
_______________________________________________________________________
NPRM 01/00/10
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required:
No
Small Entities Affected:
No
Government Levels Affected:
None
Agency Contact:
Ann Marie Oliva
Director, Office of Special Needs Assistance Program
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Community Planning and Development
HUD, 451 7th St. Street
Washington, DC 20410
Phone: 202 402-4497
RIN: 2506-AC26
BILLING CODE 4210-67-S
