[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83037-83039]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-23736]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket Number: FR-7092-N-38]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Office of Public and Indian Housing, Real Estate Assessment 
Center, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act 
of 1988, as amended, the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
(HUD) is providing notice of its intent to re-establish a computer 
matching agreement (CMA) with the Social Security Administration (SSA) 
for a recurring matching program with HUD's Office of Public and Indian 
Housing (PIH) and Office of Housing, involving comparisons of Social 
Security numbers (SSN) and benefit information provided by participants 
in any authorized HUD rental housing assistance program. HUD will 
obtain SSA data and make the results available to: Program 
administrators such as public housing agencies (PHAs) and private 
owners and management agents (O/As) (collectively referred to as POAs) 
to enable them to verify the accuracy of income reported by the tenants 
(participants) of HUD rental assistance programs, and contract 
administrators (CAs) overseeing and monitoring O/A operations as well 
as independent public auditors (IPAs) that audit both PHAs and O/As. 
The most recent renewal of the current matching agreement expires on 
October 15, 2024.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 14, 2024. The CMA will become 
applicable 30 days after the publication of this notice, unless 
comments have been received from interested members of the public 
requiring modification and republication of the notice. The matching 
program will continue for 18 months after the applicable date and may 
be extended for an additional 12 months, if the respective agency Data 
Integrity Boards (DIBs) determine that the conditions specified in 5 
U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to:
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the instructions provided on that site to submit comments 
electronically.
    Fax: 202-619-8365.
    Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f6818181d886849f8097958fb69e8392d8919980"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e99e9e9ec7999b809f888a90a9819c8dc78e869f">[email protected]</span></a>.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received will be posted 
without change to https://www.regulations.gov including any personal 
information provided.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received go to https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact the Recipient Agency, Bradley 
Jewitt, Senior Agency Official for Privacy, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street SW, Room 6204, Washington, DC 
20410, telephone number (202) 402-4025. [This is not a toll-free 
number.] HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive calls from individuals 
who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as individuals with speech or 
communication disabilities. To learn more about how to make an 
accessible telephone call, please visit https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice supersedes a similar notice 
published in the Federal Register on March 15, 2022, at 87 FR 14552. 
Administrators of HUD rental assistance programs rely upon the accuracy 
of tenant-reported income to determine participant eligibility for and 
level of rental assistance. The computer matching program may provide 
indicators of potential tenant unreported or under-reported income,

[[Page 83038]]

which will require additional verification to identify inappropriate or 
inaccurate rental assistance and may provide indicators for potential 
administrative or legal actions. The matching program will be carried 
out to detect inappropriate or inaccurate rental assistance. 
Specifically, the computer matching program will match HUD's tenant 
data to SSA's death data, Social Security (SS) and Supplemental 
Security Income (SSI) benefits data.

PARTICIPATING AGENCIES:
    Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Social Security 
Administration.

AUTHORITY FOR CONDUCTING THE MATCHING PROGRAM:
    42 U.S.C. 3543 authorizes HUD to require rental assistance 
applicants and participants to disclose their SSNs. HUD requires, as a 
condition of eligibility, that individuals requesting, or continuing to 
receive, rental assistance disclose their SSNs (24 CFR 5.216). Section 
1106 of the Social Security Act (Act) (42 U.S.C. 1306) and the 
regulations promulgated thereunder provide legal authority for SSA's 
disclosures in this agreement (20 CFR part 401). Section 205(r)(3) of 
the Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)(3)) provides legal authority for SSA to 
disclose death data to Federal agencies to ensure proper payment of 
Federally funded benefits. Pursuant to section 7213 of the Intelligence 
Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, Public Law (Pub. L.) 108-
458, SSA includes death indicators in verification routines that SSA 
determines to be appropriate.

PURPOSE(S):
    HUD's primary objective of the computer matching program is to 
verify the income of participants in certain rental assistance programs 
to determine the appropriate level of rental assistance, and to detect, 
deter, and correct fraud, waste, and abuse in rental housing assistance 
programs. In meeting these objectives, HUD also is carrying out a 
responsibility under 42 U.S.C. 1437f(k) to ensure that income data 
provided to POAs by household members is complete and accurate. HUD's 
various rental housing assistance programs require that participants 
meet certain income and other criteria to be eligible for rental 
assistance. In addition, tenants generally are required to report and 
recertify the amounts and sources of their income at least annually. 
However, under the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, 
PHAs operating Public Housing programs may offer tenants the option to 
pay a flat rent or an income-based rent. Those tenants who select a 
flat rent will be required to recertify income at least every three 
years. In addition, the changes to the Admissions and Occupancy final 
rule (March 29, 2000 (65 FR 16692)) specified that household 
composition must be recertified annually for tenants who select a flat 
rent or income-based rent. Additional uses/benefits of this computer 
matching program include: (1) increasing the availability of rental 
assistance to individuals who meet the requirements of the rental 
assistance programs; (2) after removal of personal identifiers, 
conducting analyses of SSA death data and benefit information, and 
income reporting of program participants; and (3) measuring improper 
payments due to under-reporting of income and/or overpayment of subsidy 
on behalf of deceased program participants.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS:
Covered Programs
    This notice of computer matching program applies to individuals 
receiving assistance from the following rental assistance programs:
    a. Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) under the Unites 
States Housing Act of 1937
    b. Public Housing under 24 CFR part 960
    c. Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) under 24 CFR part 982
    d. Project-Based Vouchers Section 24 CFR parts 880, 881, 883, 884, 
886, and 891
    e. New Construction Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and 
Affordability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437f)
    f. Substantial Rehabilitation Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform 
and Affordability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C.1437f)
    g. Section 202/8 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q)
    h. Rural Housing Services Section 515/8 under section 515 of title 
V of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1485)
    i. Loan Management Set-Aside Section 236 of the National Housing 
Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1)
    j. Property Disposition Set-Aside of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 
U.S.C. 1701)
    k. Section 101 Rent Supplement of the Housing and Urban Development 
Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s)
    l. Section 202/162 Project Assistance Contract of the Housing Act 
of 1959 (24 CFR 891.655)
    m. Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC) of the 
Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q)
    n. Section 811 PRAC of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013)
    o. Section 236 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1)
    p. Section 236 Rental Assistance Program (RAP) of the National 
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1)
    q. Section 221(d)(3) Below Market Interest Rate and 236 of the 
National Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 171519(d)(3) and 1715z-1)
    r. Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation (24 CFR part 882)
    s. Project-Based Voucher (24 CFR part 983)

    Note: The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Rural Housing 
Services Section 515 (non-Section 8) are not included under the 
rental housing assistance programs covered under this CMA.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS:
    The following are the categories of record in this matching 
agreement that HUD will provide SSA for each individual for whom HUD 
requests information:
    [ssquf] First name
    [ssquf] Last name
    [ssquf] SSN
    [ssquf] Date of Birth (DOB)
    SSA will provide HUD with the following information for each 
individual for whom HUD requests information:
    [ssquf] The amount of monthly benefits for each recipient of Title 
II, Title XVI, and Title VIII benefits
    [ssquf] SSN match/no match response
    [ssquf] In the case of a ``no match'', the reason for the no match 
response in the form of an error code
    [ssquf] A death indicator, if applicable

SYSTEM(S) OF RECORDS:
    SSA will conduct the matching of tenant SSNs and additional 
identifiers (surnames and DOBs) to tenant data that HUD supplies from 
its systems of records known as:
    1. Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS) HUD/HOU-
11, published on September 13, 2023 (88 FR 62813);
    2. Inventory Management System, Public and Indian Housing 
Information System (IMS/PIC) and Housing Information Portal (HIP) HUD/
PIH.01, published on January 9, 2024 (89 FR 1121); and
    3. Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) System, HUD/PIH-5, 
published on August 17, 2022 (87 FR 50635).
    Program administrators utilize the form HUD-50058 module within 
IMS/PIC system and the form HUD-50059 module within TRACS to provide 
HUD with the tenant data. SSA will match

[[Page 83039]]

the tenant data in TRACS and IMS/PIC to its systems of records known as
    1. SSA's Master Files of SSN Holders and SSN Applications 
(Enumeration System), 60-0058; last fully published December 29, 2010 
(75 FR 82121) and amended on July 5, 2013 (78 FR 40542), February 13, 
2014 (79 FR 8780), July 3, 2018 (83 FR 31250 and 83 FR 31251), and 
November 1, 2018 (83 FR 54969);
    2. Supplemental Security Income Record and Special Veterans 
Benefits, 60-0103, last fully published on January 11, 2006 (71 FR 
1830) and amended December 10, 2007 (72 FR 69723), July 3, 2018 (83 FR 
31250 and 83 FR 31251) and November 1, 2018 (83 FR 64969); and
    3. Master Beneficiary Record (MBR), 60-0090, last fully published 
on January 11, 2006 (71 FR 1826) and amended on December 10, 2007 (72 
FR 69723), July 5, 2013 (78 FR 40542), July 3, 2018 (83 FR 31250 and 83 
FR 31251), and November 1, 2018 (83 FR 54969).

Bradley Jewitt,
Senior Agency Official for Privacy, Office of Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-23736 Filed 10-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P


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