E7-12892. Notice of Proposed Extension of a Currently Approved Information Collection: Comment Request; Housing Discrimination Information Form HUD-903.1, HUD 903.1A, HUD-903-1B, HUD-903.1F, HUD-903.1KOR, HUD-903.1C, HUD-903.1CAM, HUD-903.1RUS

AGENCY:

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, HUD.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The proposed extension of the currently approved information collection requirement concerning Housing Discrimination Information Forms HUD 903.1, HUD 903.1A, HUD-903-1B, HUD-903.1F, HUD-903.1KOR, HUD-903.1C, HUD-903.1CAM, and HUD-903.1RUS will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. HUD will also solicit public comments on the subject proposal.

DATES:

Comments Due Date: September 4, 2007.

ADDRESSES:

Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB Control Number, and should be sent to Juanina B. Harris, Administrative Support Specialist, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 5124, Washington, DC 20410-2000; telephone: [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lynn Grosso, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 5226, Washington, DC 20410-2000; telephone: [phone] (this is not a toll-free number). Hearing or speech-impaired individuals may access this number via TTY/ASCII by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

HUD is proposing this extension of a currently approved information collection to the OMB for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended).

This Notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and affected agencies concerning the proposed extension of the collection of information regarding alleged discriminatory housing practices under the Fair Housing Act (Act) (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.). The Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, occupancy, advertising, and insuring of residential dwellings, and in residential real estate-related transactions, based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap (disability), familial status, or national origin.

Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice, or who believes that he or she will be injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur, may file a complaint with HUD not later than one year after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred or terminated. Form HUD-903.1 was developed in order to promote consistency in the documents that, by statute, must be provided to persons against whom complaints are filed, and for the convenience of the general public. Section 103.25 of HUD's Fair Housing Act regulation describes the information that must be included in each complaint filed with HUD. For purposes of meeting the Act's one-year time limitation for filing complaints with HUD, complaints need not be initially submitted on the Form that HUD provides. Housing Discrimination Information Form HUD-903.1 (English language), HUD-903.1A (Spanish language), HUD-903-1B (Chinese language), HUD-903.1F (Vietnamese language), HUD-903.1KOR (Korean language), HUD-903.1C (Arabic language), HUD-903.1CAM (Cambodian language), and HUD-903.1RUS (Russian language) may be submitted to HUD by mail, in person, by facsimile, or via the Internet to HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO). FHEO staff uses the information provided on the Form to verify HUD's authority to investigate the aggrieved person's allegations under the Act.

Notice of Submission of Proposed Extension of Information Collection to OMB

Title of Proposal: Housing Discrimination Information Form.

Office: Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, HUD.

OMB Control Number: 2529-0011.

Description of the need for the information and proposed use: HUD uses the Housing Discrimination Information Form HUD-903.1 (Form) to collect pertinent information from persons wishing to file housing discrimination complaints with HUD under the Fair Housing Act (Act). The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in the sale, rental, occupancy, advertising, or insuring of residential dwellings; or to discriminate in residential real estate-related transactions, based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap (disability), familial status, or national origin.

Any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice, or any person who believes that he or she will be injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur, may file a complaint with HUD not later than one year after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurs or terminates. The Form promotes consistency in the collection of information necessary to contact persons who file housing discrimination complaints with HUD. It also aids in the collection of information necessary for initial assessments of HUD's authority to investigate alleged discriminatory housing practices under the Act.

This information may subsequently be provided to persons against whom complaints are filed (“respondents”), as required under section 810(a)(1)(B)(ii) of the Act.

Agency form numbers, if applicable: Form HUD-903.1 (English), Form HUD-903.1A (Spanish), Form HUD-903-1B (Chinese), Form HUD-903.1F (Vietnamese), Form HUD-903.1K (Korean), Form HUD-903.1AR (Arabic), Form HUD-903.1CAM (Cambodian), and Form HUD-903.1R (Russian).

Members of affected public: Individuals or households; businesses or other for-profit, not-for-profit institutions; State, Local, or Tribal Governments.

Estimation of the total number of hours needed to prepare the information collection, including the number of respondents, frequency of response, and hours of responses: During FY 2006, HUD staff received approximately 18,824 information submissions from persons wishing to file housing discrimination complaints with HUD. Telephone contacts accounted for 9,655 of this total. The remaining 9,169 complaint submissions were transmitted to HUD by mail, in-person, and via the Internet. HUD estimates that an aggrieved person requires approximately 45 minutes to complete the HUD 903.1 Form. The Form is completed once by each aggrieved person. Therefore, the total number of annual burden hours for this Form is 6,877 hours.

9,169 × 1 (frequency) × .45 minutes (.75 hrs.) = 6,877 (6,876.75) hours.

Annualized cost burden to complainants: HUD does not provide postage-paid mailers for this information collection. Accordingly, persons who choose to submit this Form to HUD by mail must pay the prevailing cost of First Class Postage. As of the date of this Notice, the annualized cost burden per person, based on a one-time submission of this Form to HUD via First Class Postage, is Forty-One Cents ($0.41) per person. During FY 2006, FHEO staff received approximately 6,897 submissions of potential complaint information by mail. Based on this number, HUD estimates that the total annualized cost burden for aggrieved persons who submit this Form to HUD by mail is $2,815.47.

Aggrieved persons also may submit the Form to HUD in person, by facsimile, or electronically via the Internet.

Status of the proposed information collection: Renewal of a currently approved collection of pertinent information from persons wishing to file Fair Housing Act complaints with HUD.

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 [44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended].

Dated: June 26, 2007.

Lynn Grosso,

Director, Office of Enforcement, FHEO.