Refinement of Income and Rent Determination Requirements in Public and Assisted Housing Programs: Implementation of Enterprise Income Verification

SUMMARY: On January 27, 2009, HUD issued a final rule that revised the regulations for HUD's public and assisted housing programs to require the use of HUD's Enterprise Income Verification system by public housing agencies and multifamily housing owners and management agents when verifying the employment and income of program participants. Consistent with Administration policy to review rules issued during the transition from one Administration to another, HUD re-opened the January 27, 2009, final rule for public comment, and specifically solicited public comment on extending the effective date of the rule. While HUD remains committed to full implementation of the Enterprise Income Verification system, the public comments submitted on the January 27, 2009, final rule highlighted for HUD certain regulatory provisions that require further clarification, and ones that were extraneous to the purpose of the rule, which is full implementation of the Enterprise Income Verification system.

By final rule published on August 28, 2009, HUD delayed the effective date of the January 27, 2009, final rule to January 31, 2010. During this period before the final rule takes effect, HUD submits for public comment, through this proposed rule, regulatory revisions designed to make certain provisions in the January 27, 2009, final rule more clear, and return other regulatory provisions to their pre-January 2009 final rule content.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Comment Due Date: November 16, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this proposed rule to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications must refer to the above docket number and title. There are two methods for submitting public comments. All submissions must refer to the above docket number and title.

1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500.

2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows the commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, ensures timely receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make them immediately available to the public. Comments submitted electronically through the www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should follow the instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.

Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must be submitted through one of the two methods specified above. Again, all submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the rule.

No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable.

Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted comments and communications submitted to HUD will be available for public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters building, an appointment to review the public comments must be scheduled in advance by calling the Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339. Copies of all comments submitted are available for inspection and downloading at www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For Office of Public and Indian Housing programs, contact Nicole Faison, Program Advisor for the Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 4214, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 202-402-4267. For Office of Housing Programs, contact Gail Williamson, Director of the Housing Assistance Policy Division, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW., Room 6138, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 202-402-2473. (These are not toll-free numbers.) Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access these numbers through TTY by calling the toll-free Federal Information Relay Service at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

On January 27, 2009 (74 FR 4832), HUD published a final rule, entitled "Refinement of Income and Rent Determination Requirements in Public and Assisted Housing Programs" (Final Rule). The Final Rule revised HUD's public and assisted housing program regulations to implement the upfront income verification process for program participants and to require the use of HUD's Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system by public housing agencies (PHAs) and owners and management agents. The Final Rule followed publication of a June 19, 2007 (72 FR 33844) proposed rule, and took into consideration the public comments received on the June 2007 proposed rule.

The Final Rule was originally scheduled to become effective on March 30, 2009. On February 11, 2009 (74 FR 6839), HUD published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on whether to delay the effective date of the Final Rule. The February 11, 2009, notice was issued in accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2009, from the assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled "Regulatory Review" and subsequently published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2009 (74 FR 4435). The notice explained that HUD was considering a temporary 60-day delay in the effective date to allow the Department an opportunity for further review and consideration of new regulations, consistent with the Chief of Staff memorandum. In addition to soliciting comments specifically delaying the effective date, the February 11, 2009, notice also requested comment generally on the Final Rule.

The comment period on the February 11, 2009, notice closed on March 13, 2009. HUD received 50 public comments. Comments were submitted by a variety of organizations including PHAs, property owners, management agents, legal aid organizations, community development organizations, and public interest organizations. The majority of comments were supportive of a delayed effective date. The commenters not only supported a delay but sought clarification or changes by HUD of certain aspects of the Final Rule, about which questions and comments were raised. Among other issues, commenters requested that HUD address the need to revise the definition of "annual income," and clarify the verification procedures applicable to noncitizens and participants who may experience difficulty obtaining social security numbers for their children.

Following publication of the February 11, 2009, Federal Register notice, HUD issued a final rule on March 27, 2009 (74 FR 13339), that extended the effective date of the Final Rule to September 30, 2009. The purpose of this extension was to provide HUD with time to review the public comments received in response to the February 11, 2009, notice. On August 28, 2009 (74 FR 44285), HUD published a final rule that further extended the effective date of the Final Rule to January 31, 2010. The further extension was undertaken to allow the two HUD Assistant Secretaries, who have responsibility for the programs affected by the rule, and only recently confirmed, sufficient time to review the subject matter of the Final Rule, and to review and consider the public comments received on HUD's February 11, 2009, Federal Register notice.

II. This Proposed Rule

As noted in the Summary to this proposed rule, the Department remains committed to the full and effective implementation of the EIV system. The use of upfront income verification will help identify and cure inaccuracies in public and assisted housing subsidy determinations, which benefits public and assisted housing providers, tenants, and taxpayers. Following a thorough review of the subject matter of the Final Rule and the issues raised by the comments on the February 11, 2009, notice, HUD is proposing, through this rule, to make certain changes to the Final Rule, which HUD believes will address the issues and concerns raised by the public commenters, and defer other issues, to subsequent rulemaking.

To provide stakeholders, residents, and other interested members of the public with the opportunity to offer feedback on the proposed regulatory changes, HUD is undertaking additional rulemaking and soliciting comments on the proposed amendments for a period of 30 days. The regulatory changes proposed by this rule are few and focused, and HUD believes that, in light of the prior public comment on the Final Rule, a 30-day period presents sufficient time to review and comment on the changes.

HUD welcomes public comment on all aspects of the proposed rule; however given the privacy concerns surrounding the disclosure of social security numbers (SSNs), the Department specifically requests comments on those proposed regulatory requirements pertaining to SSN disclosure. All public comments will be considered by HUD in the development of a final rule that will, depending upon public comments received in response to this proposed rule, and further consideration of issues by HUD, supersede provisions of the Final Rule that would otherwise take effect on January 31, 2010.

--This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below--

Proposed rule.

CFR Part: "24 CFR Parts 5 and 908"

RIN Number: "RIN 2501-AD48"

Citation: "74 FR 52931"

Document Number: "Docket No. FR-5351-P-01"

Federal Register Page Number: "52931"

"Proposed Rules"

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