10014 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 43 / Tuesday, March 6, 2007 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5089–N–03] 

Additional Waivers Granted to and 

Alternative Requirements for the State 

of Louisiana Under Public Laws 109– 

148 and 109–234 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice of waivers and 

alternative requirements. 

SUMMARY: As described in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this Notice, HUD is authorized by 

statute to waive statutory and regulatory 

requirements and specify alternative 

requirements for this grant, upon the 

request of the state grantee. This Notice 

describes the additional waivers for the 

disaster recovery grants made to the 

state of Louisiana under the subject 

appropriations acts. 

DATES: Effective Date: March 12, 2007. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Clifford Taffet, Acting Director, Disaster 

Recovery and Special Issues Division, 

Office of Block Grant Assistance, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, Room 7286, 451 Seventh 

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410, 

telephone number (202) 708–2684. 

Persons with hearing or speech 

impairments may access this number 

via TTY by calling the Federal 

Information Relay Service at (800) 877– 

8339. FAX inquiries may be sent to Mr. 

Taffet at (202) 708–1744. (Except for the 

‘‘800’’ number, these telephone numbers 

are not toll-free.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority To Grant Waivers 

The first federal fiscal year 2006 

supplemental appropriation for the 

Community Development Block Grant 

(CDBG) program was the Department of 

Defense, Emergency Supplemental 

Appropriations to Address Hurricanes 

in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic 

Influenza Act, 2006 (Pub. L. 109–148, 

approved December 30, 2005). The 

second 2006 supplemental 

appropriation was Chapter 9 of Title II 

of the Emergency Supplemental 

Appropriations Act for Defense, the 

Global War on Terror, and Hurricane 

Recovery, 2006 (Pub. L. 109–234, 

approved June 15, 2006) which 

appropriates $5.2 billion in Community 

Development Block Grant funds for 

necessary expenses related to disaster 

relief, long-term recovery, and 

restoration of infrastructure directly 

related to the consequences of the 

covered disasters. The 2006 Acts 

authorize the Secretary to waive, or 

specify alternative requirements for, any 

provision of any statute or regulation 

that the Secretary administers in 

connection with the obligation by the 

Secretary or use by the recipient of these 

funds and guarantees, except for 

requirements related to fair housing, 

nondiscrimination, labor standards, and 

the environment, upon a request by the 

State and a finding by the Secretary that 

such a waiver would not be inconsistent 

with the overall purpose of the statute. 

The following waivers and alternative 

requirements for funds provided under 

either 2006 Act are in response to 

requests from the State of Louisiana. A 

waiver or alternative requirement will 

apply to assistance provided under 

either Act unless otherwise specified in 

this Notice. 

The Secretary finds that the following 

waivers and alternative requirements, as 

described below, are not inconsistent 

with the overall purpose of Title I of the 

Housing and Community Development 

Act of 1974, as amended, or the 

Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 

Housing Act, as amended. 

Under the requirements of the 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development Act, as amended (42 

U.S.C. 3535(q)), regulatory waivers must 

be published in the Federal Register. 

Except as described in this and other 

notices applicable to this grant, 

statutory and regulatory provisions 

governing the Community Development 

Block Grant program for states, 

including those at 24 CFR part 570, 

shall apply to the use of these funds. In 

accordance with the appropriations acts, 

HUD will reconsider every waiver in 

this Notice on the two-year anniversary 

of the day this Notice is published. 

Waiver Justification 

In general, waivers already granted to 

the state of Louisiana and alternative 

requirements already specified for 

CDBG disaster recovery grant funds 

provided under Public Law 109–148 

and Public Law 109–234 apply. The 

notices in which these prior waivers 

and alternative requirements applicable 

to Louisiana appear are 71 FR 7666, 

published February 13, 2006; 71 FR 

34451, published June 14, 2006; and 71 

FR 63337, published October 30, 2006. 

The provisions of this Notice do not 

apply to funds provided under the 

regular CDBG program. The provisions 

provide additional flexibility in program 

design and implementation and 

implement statutory requirements 

unique to these appropriations. 

Eligibility—buildings for the general 

conduct of government. The state 

requested additional flexibility in the 

previously granted alternative 

requirement that permitted funding the 

cost share for the FEMA Public 

Assistance or Hazard Mitigation Grant 

Program when disaster recovery CDBG 

funds assist buildings for the general 

conduct of government. The requested 

change will allow the state to fund more 

than just the amount of the FEMA cost 

share for a project in this activity 

category. The change will also permit 

use of grant funds for allowable 

rehabilitation, construction, or 

reconstruction costs in otherwise FEMA 

eligible projects when these costs are 

ineligible for FEMA assistance, such as 

the costs to assist rehabilitation or 

reconstruction of qualifying buildings 

that were underinsured or uninsured, 

and to allow funding to bring a selected 

building up to code or to allow it to 

receive a certificate of occupancy and be 

put into service. HUD considered the 

state’s request and agreed that it is 

consistent with the overall purposes of 

the 1974 Act for the state to be allowed 

to use the grant funds under this notice 

to fund critical projects involving repair 

of buildings for the general conduct of 

government that the state has selected in 

accordance with the method described 

in its HUD-approved Action Plan for 

Disaster Recovery and that the state has 

determined have substantial value in 

promoting disaster recovery, even if the 

funding provided under this notice 

assists some costs that do not qualify as 

cost share for the FEMA Public 

Assistance or Mitigation programs. 

Eligibility—Research 

Commercialization and Educational 

Enhancement. According to the state’s 

proposed Action Plan amendment, the 

Research Commercialization and 

Educational Enhancement (RCCE) 

Program is ‘‘intended to restore the 

economic impact of scientific and 

technology research facilities within 

higher education institutions in the 

most severely affected areas.’’ Activities 

under this program may include, but are 

not limited to, stipends for students, 

related training, purchase of critical 

equipment, stipends for research 

professionals, and development of a 

master strategic plan for meeting the 

program’s intent. 

Normally, HUD provides funds to a 

research institution or a university 

either to increase its capacity to carry 

out a CDBG activity such as 

rehabilitation of housing, to carry out 

specific research, or to provide training. 

By contrast, the RCEE program is 

directed at stabilizing and increasing 

research and education sector 

employment and functions themselves. 

The state has stated that this sector was 

a significant regional job generator 

before the covered disasters, that 


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Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath 

critically damaged many aspects of the 

research sector, and that the RCEE 

program is a critical component of the 

state’s long-term economic recovery. 

To accomplish its stated intention, the 

State is funding strategic planning 

followed by a pilot assistance program 

for research institutions located in the 

most impacted areas. At HUD’s request, 

the state has agreed that this planning 

process will identify critical 

performance measures for this program 

so that all parties involved can assess 

the usefulness of the RCEE model as 

part of overall disaster recovery. 

The RCEE program design does not 

break down neatly into CDBG eligibility 

categories. Portions of the RCEE 

program are eligible CDBG activities, 

such as training (public services) and 

strategic planning. Other portions, 

especially the stipends and other direct 

support for retaining key faculty 

researchers, are outside the usual CDBG 

realm, although modeled on other 

government research and endowment 

grant programs. Program staff will be 

coordinating the various types of 

assistance into a coherent whole, 

moving between supporting eligible and 

currently ineligible activities. 

To avoid bureaucratic hair-splitting 

that does not advance long-term disaster 

recovery or protect against fraud, waste, 

or abuse of funds, HUD is providing a 

waiver and alternative requirement to 

create the eligible activity called 

Louisiana Research Commercialization 

and Educational Enhancement to 

include all activities carried out in 

accordance with the RCEE program 

described in the HUD-approved Action 

Plan, beginning with the amendment 

introducing this program, approved 

January 3, 2007. (The allowable cost 

provisions of applicable OMB Circulars 

still apply, as do statutory prohibitions 

on duplications of benefit with other 

forms of assistance, such as Federal 

programs.) 

Documentation of low- and moderateincome household benefit for multi-unit 

housing projects. Rehabilitation and 

reconstruction of housing is an eligible 

CDBG activity. HUD has already granted 

the state an eligibility waiver to allow 

new construction of housing. Now the 

state has requested a related waiver to 

allow it to fund multi-unit projects and 

to measure benefit to low- and 

moderate-income households in such 

projects in a manner more supportive of 

mixed income housing than the 

structure basis required by 24 CFR 

570.483(b)(3). (Under the cited 

regulation, the general rule is that at 

least 51 percent of the residents of an 

assisted structure must be income 

eligible.) 

HUD has reviewed other housing 

assistance programs that measure 

benefit differently: By the housing unit. 

Under the unit approach, one or more 

of the units in a structure must house 

income-eligible families, but the 

remainder of the units may be market 

rate, so long as the proportion of 

assistance provided compared to the 

overall project budget is no more than 

the proportion of units that will be 

occupied by income-eligible households 

compared to the number of units in the 

overall project. In other words, the rule 

under the structure approach is that a 

dollar of CDBG assistance to a structure 

means that 51 percent of the units must 

meet income requirements. Under the 

proportional units approach, the 

number of income-eligible units is 

proportional to the amount of assistance 

provided. Based on HUD experience, 

the second approach is generally more 

compatible with large-scale 

development of mixed-income housing. 

There is HUD precedent for using the 

proportional unit basis in two programs 

familiar to the state: (1) The CDBG 

program rule has a built-in exception 

that allows limited use of the unit basis 

for multi-unit non-elderly new 

construction structures with between 20 

and 50 percent low- and moderateincome occupancy, and (2) the HOME 

Investment Partnerships program, 

HUD’s primary housing production 

program, successfully uses its own 

variation on the proportional unit 

approach. After review of the state’s 

Action Plan for Disaster Recovery and 

learning more about the state’s intention 

to encourage mixed-income housing 

development, HUD has determined that 

it is consistent with the overall purposes 

of the 1974 Act to provide the state the 

requested additional flexibility in 

measuring program benefit. 

Therefore, the waiver and alternative 

requirements allow the state a choice. 

The state may measure benefit within a 

housing development project (1) 

according to the existing CDBG 

requirements, (2) according to the 

HOME program requirements at 24 CFR 

92.205(d) or (3) according to the 

modified CDBG alternative 

requirements specified in this notice, 

which extend the CDBG exception 

noted above. The state must select and 

use just one method for each project. 

For these purposes, the term ‘‘project’’

will have the same meaning as in the 

HOME program at 24 CFR 92.2. Unlike 

the HOME program, the CDBG program 

does not regulate the maximum amount 

of assistance per unit, require unit and 

income reviews in the years following 

initial occupancy, require a specific 

form of subsidy layering review, or 

define affordability. The state is 

reminded, however, that CDBG does 

require that costs be necessary and 

reasonable and that the state must 

develop procedures and documentation 

to ensure that its housing investments 

meet this requirement. The state must 

also meet all civil rights and fair 

housing requirements. 

Eligibility—Operating Subsidy for 

Affordable Rental Housing. The State 

requested a waiver to allow a ProjectBased Rental Subsidy (PBRA) and 

assistance to establish operating 

reserves to encourage developers to 

rebuild rental and mixed-income 

housing in the areas that suffered the 

greatest disaster impact. The subsidy 

funding, which is ‘‘Piggyback’’ funding 

generally designed to be linked to the 

use of housing tax credits or funding 

under another of the rental programs 

delineated in the State’s HUD approved 

Action Plan for Disaster Recovery, 

targets housing for low-income and 

very-low-income families and is limited 

in amount to the difference between the 

rents that a project is projected to need 

to sustain itself, and a specified lower 

level that can be reasonably afforded by 

the tenants. With its affordable rental 

programs, the State proposes to address 

specific barriers unique to the affordable 

rental programs outlined by the State’s 

Action Plan (see The Road Home 

Housing Programs described in the 

State’s Action Plan for Disaster 

Recovery) such as the lack of 

affordability in the most heavily 

damaged areas, the lack of permanent 

financing for mixed-income rentals, and 

the need for more risk-tolerant predevelopment capital. 

In its Road Home programs, the State 

has set a high priority on deep 

affordability for some rental units and 

on placing these units within mixedincome communities wherever feasible. 

The state has included new scoring 

factors in the Piggyback tax credit 

selection process that reflect these 

priorities and that emphasize long-term 

viability and reduce operating costs. 

According to the state, the biggest 

remaining challenge in providing rental 

units affordable to very low-income 

households is the difference between 

what tenants can afford to pay and the 

projected cost of operating the units. 

The state has researched existing 

housing models, and concluded that the 

Piggyback model and the small rental 

and homeless programs described in the 

Road Home are needed to ensure 

production of affordable units. The state 

believes it has a critical need for 

income-targeted rental housing 


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production programs. Although the state 

has made financing available for rental 

housing construction, it believes that it 

will need also to provide operating 

subsidy options for some projects to 

ensure they are affordable to very lowincome households. 

HUD agrees that keeping housing 

affordable to very low-income 

households over time may require 

additional operating subsidy after 

construction is complete. To allow the 

state flexible options, HUD will allow 

CDBG assistance for subsidizing 

operating costs using PBRA and funding 

initial operating reserves in the context 

of the Road Home rental programs as 

described in the Action Plan. The 

Department encourages the State to 

avoid using CDBG for operating 

subsidies if other financing is available 

or if the project can reasonably be 

structured to achieve and maintain its 

target affordability without the 

operating subsidy. 

HUD recommends that the State 

establish written requirements for 

income eligibility, maximum rents, 

utility allowances, structure quality, and 

affirmative marketing of projects. HUD 

also recommends that inflation 

adjustments set by the State generally 

not exceed the Section 8 allowable 

adjustments. 

HUD recommends that, in 

implementing PBRA funding, the State 

acquire and maintain the expertise 

equivalent to the role of a tax credit 

administrator whose responsibilities 

will include, but not be limited to, 

making PBRA payments to procured 

developers and compliance control of 

eligibility determinations. Due to the 

distinctive and potentially high-risk 

nature of this eligibility waiver, HUD 

recommends that such expertise be 

maintained throughout the life of the 

program to ensure the prevention of 

fraud, abuse of funds, and duplication 

of benefits. HUD reminds the state of the 

regulatory requirement for annual 

financial audits of its programs, and of 

the Federal Register Notice 71 FR 7666 

and 71 FR 73337 requirements that its 

entire program be under the purview of 

an internal auditor. 

Eligibility—Homeless Prevention and 

Rapid Rehousing. The State has 

requested an eligibility waiver to allow 

it to implement a Homeless Prevention 

and Rapid Rehousing Program using 

funds designated for homeless activities 

in its Action Plan. The principle of this 

program model is to minimize the time 

a family is homeless by providing rehousing assistance, rental assistance, 

and linking the family to services 

designed to help it become stable and 

self-sufficient. The State’s request notes 

that it has modeled its program on the 

rapid rehousing program approach that 

the National Alliance to End 

Homelessness has endorsed as a 

national best practice. The State also 

notes that as a consequence of 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: 

‘‘Thousands of families today are 

doubled up with family and friends, 

facing eviction, in temporary housing 

conditions affordable only with time 

limited FEMA rental assistance, or 

living in FEMA trailer villages—unsure 

what they are going to do when 

assistance runs out.’’

The State needs an eligibility waiver 

for the rental assistance and utility 

payments that are paid for up to two 

years on behalf of homeless and at-risk 

households. The proposed program also 

includes rental and utility deposits and 

back payments for housing when the 

State determines that such payments are 

necessary to help prevent a family from 

becoming homeless. To the extent the 

existing CDBG program rules explicitly 

allow payments for these purposes, the 

program establishes a shorter time 

limitation (three months) and generally 

discourages or disallows back payments. 

The State’s proposed program will 

measurably advance the Department’s 

priority on supporting forward-thinking 

solutions to help communities that are 

struggling to house and serve persons 

and families that are homeless or at risk 

of homelessness because of the effects of 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Therefore, 

this Notice grants the eligibility waiver 

as requested. 

Documentation of low- and moderateincome benefit and public benefit for 

certain economic development 

activities. For some of its economic 

development programs, the state has 

requested one waiver to allow it to 

provide alternate documentation of lowand moderate-income benefit, and 

another waiver to extend the public 

benefit standard waiver granted in 

Federal Register Notice 71 FR 7666 for 

the Bridge Loan Program to the 

economic development activities from 

Action Plan Amendments 2 and 8 and 

to FEMA public assistance cost share 

infrastructure projects carried out for 

the purpose of creating or retaining jobs. 

For the national objective 

documentation for the business 

assistance activities, the state has asked 

to be able to apply individual salaries or 

wages per job and the income limits for 

a household of one, rather than the 

usual CDBG standard of total household 

income and the limits by total 

household size. The state asserts that its 

proposed documentation will be 

simpler and quicker for its participating 

lenders to administer, easier to verify, 

and will not misrepresent the amount of 

low- and moderate-income benefit 

provided. 

Further, for the Bridge Loan Program 

and for infrastructure projects carried 

out to create or retain jobs or businesses, 

the state argues for this approach 

because it considers these critical 

recovery activities that need the most 

streamlined approach to documentation 

that is consistent with prudent 

management. On review and following 

several discussions with state staff, HUD 

accepts the state’s arguments for the 

activities and programs cited above, and 

is granting the waiver as requested. 

HUD is granting this waiver because 

of the magnitude of the disaster. 

However, because the validity of this 

approach has not been verified 

systematically, HUD may not grant 

similar waivers in the future. 

The public benefit provisions set 

standards for individual economic 

development activities (such as a single 

loan to a business) and for economic 

development activities in the annual 

aggregate. Currently, public benefit 

standards limit the amount of CDBG 

assistance per job retained or created, or 

the amount of CDBG assistance per lowand moderate-income person to which 

goods or services are provided by the 

activity. Essentially, the public benefit 

standards are a proxy for all the other 

possible public benefits provided by an 

assisted activity. These dollar 

thresholds were set more than a decade 

ago and under disaster recovery 

conditions (which often require a larger 

investment to achieve a given result), 

can be too low and thus impede 

recovery by limiting the amount of 

assistance the grantee may provide to a 

critical activity. The State has made 

public in its Action Plan the disaster 

recovery needs each activity is 

addressing and the public benefits 

expected. 

After consideration, this Notice 

waives the public benefit standards for 

the cited activities, except that the State 

shall report and maintain 

documentation on the creation and 

retention of (a) total jobs, (b) number of 

jobs within certain salary ranges, (c) the 

average amount of assistance per job 

and activity or program, and (c) the 

types of jobs. As a conforming change 

for the same activities or programs, HUD 

is also waiving paragraph (g) of 24 CFR 

570.482 to the extent its provisions are 

related to public benefit. 

Voluntary acquisition under the 

Piggyback Program. In connection with 

the State’s Low Income Housing Tax 

Credit Piggyback Program, various 

developers obtained options for the 

acquisition of specific properties to 


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create mixed income rental housing and 

workforce housing projects to replace 

rental housing lost during the 

hurricanes. The options were obtained 

on a voluntary basis by developers 

without the use or threat of eminent 

domain and prior to the availability of 

federal funding. However, since these 

projects will now be receiving CDBG 

disaster funding assistance, the 

requirements of the Uniform Relocation 

Assistance and Real Property 

Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as 

amended, (42 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.) (the 

URA) will apply where the property 

acquisition has not been completed. The 

state has requested a waiver related to 

acquisition requirements under the URA 

for specific projects with existing 

options. The state has asked that HUD 

permit the waivers to help complete the 

acquisition of property and promote the 

replacement of housing in a timely and 

efficient manner. The state believes that 

these waivers will have little impact on 

those persons who voluntarily entered 

into these option agreements prior to the 

availability of federal funding. 

CDBG funds are federal financial 

assistance so their use in projects that 

involve acquisition of property for a 

federally assisted project, or that involve 

acquisition, demolition, or 

rehabilitation that force a person to 

move permanently, are subject to the 

URA and the government-wide 

implementing regulations found at 49 

CFR part 24. The URA provides 

assistance and protections to 

individuals and businesses affected by 

federal or federally assisted projects. 

HUD is waiving the following URA 

requirements to help promote 

accessibility to suitable decent, safe, and 

sanitary housing for victims of 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: 

The acquisition requirements of the URA 

and implementing regulations so that they do 

not apply to an arm’s length voluntary 

purchase carried out by a person that does 

not have the power of eminent domain, in 

connection with the purchase of properties 

for the projects listed in the waiver below. 

According to the state, the failure to suspend 

these requirements would impede disaster 

recovery. This waiver would not affect any 

lawful occupants of the affected projects, in 

terms of relocation assistance and payments, 

and would only waive certain transactionrelated requirements vis a vis the project 

owners. 

Applicable Rules, Statutes, Waivers, 

and Alternative Requirements 

1. General note. Except as described 

in this Notice, the statutory, regulatory, 

and notice provisions that shall apply to 

the use of these funds are: 

a. those governing the funds 

appropriated under Public Law 109–148 

and Public Law 109–234 and already 

published in the Federal Register, 

including those in Notices 71 FR 7666, 

published February 13, 2006; 71 FR 

34451, published June14, 2006; and 71 

FR 63337, published October 30, 2006. 

b. those governing the Community 

Development Block Grant program for 

states, including those at 42 U.S.C. 5301 

et seq. and 24 CFR part 570. 

2. Buildings for the general conduct of 

government. Waiver 11 of notice 71 FR 

34451 is replaced with the following: 42 

U.S.C. 5305(a) and 24 CFR 507.207(a)(1) 

are waived to the extent necessary to 

allow the state to use the grant funds 

under this notice to fund the 

rehabilitation or reconstruction of 

public buildings that are otherwise 

ineligible and that the state selects in 

accordance with its approved Action 

Plan for Disaster Recovery and that the 

State has determined have substantial 

value in promoting disaster recovery. 

3. Eligibility—Louisiana Research 

Commercialization and Educational 

Enhancement program (RCEE). 

Activities carried out in accordance 

with the HUD approved Action Plan for 

the RCEE program approved January 3, 

2007, are eligible. 

4. Documentation of low- and 

moderate-income benefit for multi-unit 

housing projects. HUD will consider 

assistance for a multi-unit housing 

project involving new construction, 

acquisition, reconstruction, or 

rehabilitation to benefit low- and 

moderate-income households in the 

following circumstances: 

(a)(i) The CDBG assistance defrays the 

development costs of a housing project 

providing eligible permanent residential 

units that, upon completion, will be 

occupied by low- and moderate-income 

households; and 

(ii) if the project is rental, the units 

occupied by low and moderate income 

households will be leased at affordable 

rents. The grantee or unit of general 

local government shall adopt and make 

public its standards for determining 

‘‘affordable rents’’ for this purpose; and 

(iii) The proportion of the total cost of 

developing the project to be borne by 

CDBG funds is no greater than the 

proportion of units in the project that 

will be occupied by low- and moderateincome households; or 

(b) When CDBG funds defray the 

development costs of eligible permanent 

residential units, such funds shall be 

considered to benefit low and moderate 

income persons if the grantee follows 

the provisions of 24 CFR 92.205(d); or 

(c) The requirements of 24 CFR 

570.483(b)(3) are met. 

(d) The state must select and use just 

one method for each project. 

(e) The term ‘‘project’’ will be defined 

as in the HOME program at 24 CFR 92.2. 

(f) If the state applies option (a) or (b) 

above to a housing project, 24 CFR 

570.483(b)(3) is waived for that project. 

5. Waiver to permit operating 

subsidies for affordable rental housing. 

42 U.S.C. 5305(a) is waived to the extent 

necessary to make eligible the Road 

Home project-based rental assistance 

program included in the state’s HUDapproved Action Plan for Disaster 

Recovery provided that the assisted 

activities are designed to ensure that 

CDBG funds will be invested only to the 

extent of reasonably anticipated need. 

Also in conjunction with the Road 

Home rental program, the grantee may 

provide assistance to establish an initial 

operating reserve account for a project 

receiving other Road Home assistance. 

6. National objective documentation 

for certain economic development 

activities. 24 CFR 570.483(b)(4)(i) is 

waived to allow the grantee to establish 

low- and moderate-income jobs benefit 

by documenting for each person 

employed the name of the business, 

type of job, and the annual wages or 

salary of the job. HUD will consider the 

person income-qualified if the annual 

wages or salary of the job is at or under 

the HUD-established income limit for a 

one-person family. 

7. Eligibility of certain activities to 

support homeless prevention and rapid 

rehousing programs. 42 U.S.C. 5305(a) 

is waived to the extent necessary to 

make eligible rental assistance and 

utility payments paid for up to two 

years on behalf of homeless and at-risk 

households when such assistance or 

payments are part of a homeless 

prevention or rapid rehousing program. 

Eligible assistance in these programs 

may also include rental and utility 

deposits and back payments for housing 

when the State determines that such 

payments are necessary to help prevent 

a family from being homeless. 

8. Public benefit standards for 

economic development activities. For 

economic development activities 

designed to create or retain jobs or 

businesses (including but not limited to 

BRIDGE, Short term, Long term, 

infrastructure projects), the public 

benefit standards at 42 U.S.C. 5305(e)(3) 

and 24 CFR 570.482(f)(1), (2), (3), (4)(i), 

(5), and (6) are waived, except that the 

grantee shall report and maintain 

documentation on the creation and 

retention of (a) total jobs, (b) number of 

jobs within certain salary ranges, (c) 

average amount of assistance provided 

per job by activity or program, and (c) 

types of jobs. Paragraph (g) of 24 CFR 

570.482 is also waived to the extent its 

provisions are related to public benefit. 


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9. Voluntary acquisition under the 

Piggyback program. The requirements at 

49 CFR 24.101(b)(2)(i)–(ii) are waived to 

the extent that they apply to an existing 

option for the arm’s length voluntary 

purchase carried out by a person that 

does not have the power of eminent 

domain, in connection with the 

purchase of property for the projects 

listed below, so long as the initial 

option pre-dates December 22, 2006. 

LHFA project ID Project name Parish Est. total units 

0708FA37 .............. The Meadows ............................................................................................................. Calcasieu ............... 180 

0708FA43 .............. Renoir Acres Estates II ............................................................................................... Calcasieu ............... 60 

0708FA44 .............. Monet Acres Estates II ............................................................................................... Calcasieu ............... 60 

0708FA48 .............. Sulphur Retirement Community ................................................................................. Calcasieu ............... 60 

0708FA52 .............. Grand Lake Elderly ..................................................................................................... Cameron ................ 30 

0708FA01 .............. Timberlane Apartments .............................................................................................. Jefferson ................ 164 

0708FA22 .............. Beechgrove Homes .................................................................................................... Jefferson ................ 100 

0708FA28 .............. Wellswood Manor ....................................................................................................... Jefferson ................ 84 

08FA49 .................. Oak Villa ..................................................................................................................... Jefferson ................ 80 

0708FA30 .............. Lafitte Redevelopment ................................................................................................ Orleans .................. 568 

0708FA26 .............. St Bernard I ................................................................................................................ Orleans .................. 465 

0708FA24 .............. BW Cooper I ............................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 410 

0708FA25 .............. CJ Peete III ................................................................................................................. Orleans .................. 410 

0708FA42 .............. Rivergarden CSII ........................................................................................................ Orleans .................. 310 

0708FA57 .............. Canterbury House Apts-New Orleans East ................................................................ Orleans .................. 276 

0708FA47 .............. The Marquis Apartments ............................................................................................ Orleans .................. 250 

0708FA08 .............. The Villas at Lake Forest ........................................................................................... Orleans .................. 230 

0708FA11 .............. The Crescent Club ...................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 226 

0708FA41 .............. Walnut Square Apartments ........................................................................................ Orleans .................. 209 

0708FA13 .............. 200 Carondelet ........................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 190 

0708FA10 .............. The Preserve .............................................................................................................. Orleans .................. 183 

0708FA38 .............. Crescent Garden Homes ............................................................................................ Orleans .................. 143 

0708FA36 .............. Levey Gardens ........................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 100 

0708FA40 .............. Nine 27 ....................................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 76 

0708FA09 .............. Jefferson Davis Apartments ....................................................................................... Orleans .................. 72 

0708FA61 .............. Indiana Homes ............................................................................................................ Orleans .................. 60 

0708FA64 .............. Orleans Place ............................................................................................................. Orleans .................. 60 

0708FA27 .............. Classic Construction of New Orleans Venture II ........................................................ Orleans .................. 56 

0708FA29 .............. Constance Lofts .......................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 47 

0708FA23 .............. Delta Oaks Homes ..................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 40 

0708FA63 .............. Old Morrison Homes ................................................................................................... Orleans .................. 38 

0708FA07 .............. Lakeside Apartments .................................................................................................. St. Tammany ......... 250 

0708FA06 .............. Tiffany Apartments ...................................................................................................... Vermilion ................ 250 

Totals .............. ..................................................................................................................................... ................................ 5737 

10. Information collection approval 

note. HUD has approval for information 

collection requirements in accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501–3520) under OMB 

control number 2506–0165, which 

expires August 31, 2007. In accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 

HUD may not conduct or sponsor, nor 

is a person required to respond to, a 

collection of information unless the 

collection displays a valid control 

number. 

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

The Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance numbers for the disaster 

recovery grants under this Notice are as 

follows: 14.219; 14.228. 

Finding of No Significant Impact 

A Finding of No Significant Impact 

(FONSI) 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. 4332). The 

FONSI is available for public inspection 

between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays in 

the Office of the Rules Docket Clerk, 

Office of General Counsel, Department 

of Housing and Urban Development, 

Room 10276, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20410–0500. 

Dated: February 27, 2007. 

Pamela H. Patenaude, 

Assistant Secretary for Community Planning 

and Development. 

[FR Doc. E7–3830 Filed 3–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 


cprice-sewell on PROD1PC67 with NOTICES2