[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 93 (Friday, May 12, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 30822-30823]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-11894]



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Part V





Department of Housing and Urban Development





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24 CFR Part 583



Supportive Housing Program--Increasing Operating Cost Percentage; 
Interim Rule

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 93 / Friday, May 12, 2000 / Rules and 
Regulations

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

24 CFR Part 583

[Docket No. FR-4576-I-01]
RIN 2506-AC05


Supportive Housing Program--Increasing Operating Cost Percentage

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Interim rule.

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SUMMARY: This document amends the Supportive Housing Program 
regulations by changing the number of years for which the grant can 
cover 75 percent of operating costs from the first two years to all 
years of the grant term. This amendment will provide the full statutory 
flexibility allowed for this activity. Providing greater assurance of a 
funding source for operating housing under the program will promote 
more use of the program for housing.

DATES: Effective date: June 12, 2000.
    Comments Due Date: July 11, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments regarding this interim rule to the 
Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Room 10276, Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 
20410-0500. Comments should refer to the interim rule by title and 
docket number, as shown above. Facsimile (FAX) comments will not be 
accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Garrity, Office of Special Needs 
Assistance Programs, Room 7262, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410; telephone (202) 
708-4300 (this is not a toll-free number). Persons with hearing or 
speech impairments may access the above telephone number via TTY by 
calling the Federal Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Department's Supportive Housing Program provides assistance for 
housing and supportive services for homeless persons, as authorized by 
Title IV, subtitle C of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act 
of 1987, as amended (the McKinney Act) (42 U.S.C. 11381-11389). Grants 
are available for acquisition, rehabilitation, new construction, and 
leasing of supportive housing, operating costs in connection with 
supportive housing, and supportive services provided to homeless 
persons. The regulations that implement the program are found at 24 CFR 
part 583.
    Among the types of housing funded under the Supportive Housing 
Program (SHP) are transitional housing, permanent housing for homeless 
persons with disabilities, innovative housing projects (or part of 
project) for, or alternative methods of, meeting the immediate and 
long-term needs of homeless individuals and families in the transition 
to permanent housing. Also funded under the program are supportive 
services.
    The authorizing statute permits the grant recipient's match for 
operating costs for housing to be no more than 25 percent in any year. 
However, when the program was developed, the rule (Sec. 583.125(c)) 
required a 25 percent match of HUD funds with local funds for the first 
two years, and a 50 percent match thereafter. The authorizing statute 
contains no comparable match requirement for use of the program to 
provide services. As a result, the program has favored the use of 
services, to a large degree.
    The HUD Appropriations Acts for Fiscal Years 1999 (112 Stat. 2479) 
and 2000 (113 Stat. 1063) included two provisions to encourage the use 
of homeless assistance program funds for supportive housing as opposed 
to services for homeless persons. These provisions were the 
requirements that at least 30 percent of the funds be used for 
permanent housing and that funding for services be required to have at 
least a 25 percent match.

This Rule

    To encourage production of housing with SHP funds, in accordance 
with the Congressional intent expressed in the Appropriations Acts, 
this amendment is being made to give applicants the full McKinney Act 
flexibility allowed for this activity. This interim rule revises 
Sec. 583.125 so that SHP funds may be used to pay for up to 75 percent 
of the operating costs in all years of the grant term, making the 
recipient provide 25 percent of the operating costs of supportive 
housing for homeless persons for each year of the grant term. Operating 
costs include actual expenses for supportive housing, such as 
maintenance, repair, security, utilities, furnishings, and equipment.

Findings and Certifications

Justification for Interim Rule

    HUD generally publishes a rule for public comment before issuing a 
rule for effect, in accordance with its own regulations on rulemaking 
in 24 CFR part 10. Part 10, however, provides that prior notice and 
public comment may be omitted ``if the Department determines in a 
particular case . . . that notice and public procedure are 
impracticable, unnecessary or contrary to the public interest.'' (24 
CFR 10.1). This interim rule implements a change in the provisions for 
a match by the grantee, consistent with the statute and Congressional 
intent, that will have an impact on the applications for the next round 
of funding under the Supportive Housing Program. That round of funding 
will take place shortly, in accordance with the Notice of Funding 
Availability for Fiscal Year 2000 funds. As a result, to make this 
change in policy effective for Fiscal Year 2000 funding applications, 
it is necessary to make the change quickly. There is not time to 
solicit public comments on the change before making it effective if it 
is to affect this fiscal year. Accordingly, HUD determines that it is 
unnecessary to solicit public comments before making the policy 
effective, and it is issuing this interim rule for effect without prior 
notice and comment. Nevertheless, the Department solicits comments from 
the public on the rule and will consider comments received before 
issuing a final rule.

Impact on Small Entities

    The Secretary, in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 
U.S.C. 605(b)), has reviewed and approved this rule, and in so doing 
certifies that this rule will not have a significant economic impact on 
a substantial number of small entities. This rule will provide greater 
flexibility to local governments in the way they administer their 
Supportive Housing Programs. It will have no measurable economic impact 
on small businesses.

Environmental Impact

    A Finding of No Significant Impact with respect to the environment 
has been made in accordance with HUD regulations at 24 CFR part 50, 
which implement section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4223). That Finding is available for public 
inspection between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. weekdays in the 
Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Room 10276, U.S. 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20410.

Executive Order 13132, Federalism

    This interim rule does not have federalism implications. It does 
not impose substantial direct costs on States and local governments or 
preempt State

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law within the meaning of Executive Order 13132.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number for the program 
affected by this interim rule is 14.235.

List of Subjects in 24 CFR Part 583

    Homeless, Rent subsidies, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Supportive housing programs--housing and community development, 
Supportive services.

    Accordingly, for reasons stated in the preamble, HUD amends part 
583 of title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 583--SUPPORTIVE HOUSING PROGRAM

    1. The authority citation for part 583 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 3535(d) and 11389.

    2. Revise paragraph (c) of Sec. 583.125 to read as follows:


Sec. 583.125  Grants for operating costs.

* * * * *
    (c) Recipient match requirement for operating costs. Assistance for 
operating costs will be available for up to 75 percent of the total 
cost in each year of the grant term. The recipient must pay the 
percentage of the actual operating costs not funded by HUD. At the end 
of each operating year, the recipient must demonstrate that it has met 
its match requirement of the costs for that year.

    Dated: April 21, 2000.
Cardell Cooper,
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.
[FR Doc. 00-11894 Filed 5-11-00; 8:45 am]
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