21754 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 75 / Monday, April 20, 2015 / Notices 

F. Probable Environmental Effects 

The following subject areas will be 

analyzed in the combined EIS for 

probable environmental effects: Land 

Use, Zoning, and Public Policy; 

Socioeconomic Conditions; 

Environmental Justice; Cultural 

Resources; Visual Character; Shadows; 

Natural Resources; Water and Sewer 

Infrastructure; Transportation; Air 

Quality; Greenhouse Gases and Climate 

Change; Noise; Construction; Public 

Health; Neighborhood Character; and 

Cumulative Effects. 

Questions may be directed to the 

individual named in this notice under 

the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

Date: April 15, 2015. 

Clifford Taffet, 

General Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Community Planning and Development. 

[FR Doc. 2015–09007 Filed 4–17–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5857–N–01] 

Section 8 Housing Assistance 

Payments Program—Fiscal Year (FY) 

2015 Inflation Factors for Public 

Housing Agency (PHA) Renewal 

Funding 

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Policy Development and 

Research, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, 2015 requires that 

HUD apply ‘‘an inflation factor as 

established by the Secretary, by notice 

published in the Federal Register’’ to 

adjust FY 2015 renewal funding for the 

Tenant-based Rental Assistance Program 

or Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) 

Program of each PHA. HUD began using 

Renewal Funding Inflation Factors in 

FY 2012. These Renewal Funding 

Inflation Factors incorporate economic 

indices to measure the expected change 

in per unit costs (PUC) for the HCV 

program. The methodology for FY 2015 

is similar to that used in FY 2014. 

DATES: Effective Date: April 20, 2015. 

Comments Due Date: June 19, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments on 

potential improvements to HUD’s per 

unit cost (PUC) forecasting model to the 

Office of the General Counsel, Rules 

Docket Clerk, Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 

Street SW., Room 10276, Washington, 

DC 20410–0001. Communications 

should refer to the above docket number 

and title and should contain the 

information specified in the ‘‘Request 

for Comments’’ section. There are two 

methods for submitting public 

comments. 

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 

7th Street SW., Room 10276, 

Washington, DC 20410–0500. Due to 

security measures at all federal agencies, 

however, submission of comments by 

mail often results in delayed delivery. 

To ensure timely receipt of comments, 

HUD recommends that comments 

submitted by mail be submitted at least 

two weeks in advance of the public 

comment deadline. 

2. Electronic Submission of 

Comments. Interested persons may 

submit comments electronically through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://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 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site can 

be viewed by other commenters and 

interested members of the public. 

Commenters should follow 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 notice. 

No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile 

(FAX) comments are not acceptable. 

Public Inspection of Comments. All 

comments and communications 

submitted to HUD will be available, 

without change, 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 advance 

appointment to review the public 

comments must be scheduled by calling 

the Regulations Division at (202) 708– 

3055 (this is not a toll-free number). 

Copies of all comments submitted are 

available for inspection and 

downloading at http://

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Miguel A. Fontanez, Director, Housing 

Voucher Financial Division, Office of 

Public Housing and Voucher Programs, 

Office of Public and Indian Housing, 

telephone number 202–402–4212; or 

Peter B. Kahn, Director, Economic and 

Market Analysis Division, Office of 

Policy Development and Research, 

telephone number 202–402–2409, for 

technical information regarding the 

development of the schedules for 

specific areas or the methods used for 

calculating the inflation factors, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 7th Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20410. Hearing- or 

speech-impaired persons may contact 

the Federal Relay Service at 800–877– 

8339 (TTY). (Other than the ‘‘800’’ TTY 

number, the above-listed telephone 

numbers are not toll free.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Tables showing Renewal Funding 

Inflation Factors will be available 

electronically from the HUD data 

information page at: http://www.

huduser.org/portal/datasets/rfif/

FY2015/FY2015_RFIF_FMR_AREA_

REPORT.pdf. 

Division K, Title II, Consolidated and 

Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 

2015 requires that the HUD Secretary, 

for the calendar year 2015 funding 

cycle, provide renewal funding for each 

public housing agency (PHA) based on 

validated voucher management system 

(VMS) leasing and cost data for the prior 

calendar year and by applying an 

inflation factor as established by the 

Secretary, by notice published in the 

Federal Register. This notice provides 

the FY 2015 inflation factors and 

describes the methodology for 

calculating them. 

II. Methodology 

The Department has focused on 

measuring the change in average PUC as 

captured in HUD’s administrative data 

in VMS. In order to predict the likely 

path of PUC over time, HUD has 

implemented a model that uses three 

economic indices that capture key 

components of the economic climate 

and assist in explaining the changes in 

PUC. These economic components are 

the seasonally-adjusted unemployment 

rate (lagged twelve months), the 

Consumer Price Index from the Bureau 

of Labor Statistics, and the ‘‘wages and 

salaries’’ component of personal income 

from the National Income and Product 

Accounts from the Bureau of Economic 

Analysis. This model subsequently 

forecasts the expected annual change in 

average PUC from Calendar Year (CY) 

2014 to CY 2015 for the voucher 

program on a national basis by 

incorporating comparable economic 

variables from the Administration’s 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 75 / Monday, April 20, 2015 / Notices 21755 

economic assumptions. For reference, 

these economic assumptions are 

described in Chapter 2 of the Analytical 

Perspectives in the President’s FY 2016 

Budget Proposal. 

Using the Per Unit Cost forecasting 

model, HUD forecasts average PUC to 

decrease slightly in 2015. The PUC 

forecast for 2015 uses VMS data and 

actual performance of economic indices 

through December of 2014. With no 

increases in PUCs predicted for 2015, 

the Renewal Funding Inflation Factor 

for each area will be 1.0. 

III. The Use of Inflation Factors 

Typically, the inflation factors have 

been developed to account for relative 

differences in the PUC of vouchers so 

that HCV funds can be allocated among 

PHAs. However, since the current 

forecast is for the PUC to decline in 

2015, HUD has set all areas to have an 

inflation factor of 1.0, which is 

consistent with the statutory 

requirements governing the Annual 

Adjustment Factor. 

IV. Geographic Areas and Area 

Definitions 

Inflation factors based on PUC 

forecasts are produced for all FMR 

areas. The tables showing the Renewal 

Funding Inflation Factors available 

electronically from the HUD data 

information page list the inflation 

factors for each FMR area and are 

created on a state by state basis. The 

inflation factors use the same OMB 

metropolitan area definitions, as revised 

by HUD, that are used in the FY 2015 

FMRs. To make certain that they are 

referencing the correct inflation factors, 

PHAs should refer to the Area 

Definitions Table on the following Web 

page: http://www.huduser.org/portal/

datasets/rfif/FY2015/FY2015_RFIF_

FMR_AREA_REPORT.pdf. The Area 

Definitions Table lists areas in 

alphabetical order by state, and the 

counties associated with each area. In 

the six New England states, the listings 

are for counties or parts of counties as 

defined by towns or cities. 

V. Request for Comments 

HUD has forecasted the decline in 

national PUC for 2015 to be ¥0.79 

percent. While more analysis is 

necessary, HUD is concerned that the 

current model used to predict the 

amount of per unit cost, when 

interacted with voucher program 

appropriations decisions, may have 

inadvertently locked in PHA cost 

reduction behaviors used to cope with 

funding reductions under sequestration 

in 2013. 

Rather than terminate assistance from 

families participating in the program, 

PHAs often respond to reduced funding 

by not reissuing vouchers when families 

leave the program. However there is a 

strong incentive for PHAs to reduce 

spending in the voucher program by 

means other than reducing the number 

of families served because PHA 

administrative fees are based on the 

number of vouchers under lease. These 

policies have the effect of reducing the 

(average) subsidy cost of vouchers, and 

as a result, reduce a family’s ability to 

rent in higher rent markets and higher 

opportunity areas. These policies, while 

necessary to handle the budget 

constraints, may also be viewed as 

reducing the effectiveness of vouchers 

in meeting the goals of the program. 

One of the primary tools PHAs use in 

administering the voucher program is 

through setting payment standards. 

Payment standards, rather than Fair 

Market Rents (FMR), form the basis of 

the subsidy (the lower of the payment 

standard or gross rent less the total 

tenant payment—typically 30 percent of 

adjusted household income) since a 

tenant selecting a unit with a gross rent 

higher than the payment standard must 

make up the additional rent to the 

owner. When payment standards 

decrease relative to FMR, the selection 

of units available to tenants decreases 

and higher opportunity neighborhoods 

with generally higher rents may no 

longer be available for tenants. A 

reduction of payment standards relative 

to FMRs is likely to cause gross rents to 

grow more slowly than FMRs as tenants 

choose units available within the 

payment standard. 

Other tools PHAs may use to reduce 

subsidy cost include policies that 

encourage more earnings among tenants 

or by approving more cases of tenants 

paying more than 30 percent of adjusted 

income toward rent. 

Thus, the model’s projections for PUC 

may not accurately forecast the true cost 

of maintaining a voucher program when 

there is a significant external event. As 

stated in prior notices, HUD may update 

the methodology for future funding 

estimates to improve the forecasting 

model, if necessary. HUD is also 

continuing to review and refine the 

methodology, especially for area 

differences in the factors, which will be 

described in future inflation factor 

notices. One option the Department is 

considering is to create a ‘‘constant 

quality’’ PUC forecast that addresses 

reduced payment standards and 

increases in tenant contributions as a 

way to account for outside disruptions 

such as sequestration. The Department 

welcomes comments on other ways to 

calculate the Renewal Funding Inflation 

Factor for the Housing Choice Voucher 

program for 2016 and beyond. 

VI. Environmental Impact 

This notice involves a statutorily 

required establishment of a rate or cost 

determination which does not constitute 

a development decision affecting the 

physical condition of specific project 

areas or building sites. Accordingly, 

under 24 CFR 50.19(c)(6), this notice is 

categorically excluded from 

environmental review under the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321). 

Dated: April 10, 2015. 

Katherine M. O’Regan, 

Assistant Secretary for Policy Development 

and Research. 

[FR Doc. 2015–09011 Filed 4–17–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5869–D–02] 

Order of Succession for the Office of 

Community Planning and Development 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice of Order of Succession 

for the Office of Community Planning 

and Development. 

SUMMARY: In this notice, the Secretary of 

HUD designates the Order of Succession 

for the Office of Community Planning 

and Development. This Order of 

Succession supersedes all prior Orders 

of Succession for the Assistant Secretary 

for Community Planning and 

Development, including the Order of 

Succession published on May 30, 2012. 

DATES: Effective upon date of signature. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David H. Enzel, Director, Office of 

Technical Assistance and Management, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 

7228, Washington, DC 20410–7000; 

telephone number 202–402–5557. (This 

is not a toll-free number.) This number 

may be accessed via TTY by call the 

Federal Relay Service at 1–800–877– 

8339 (this is a toll-free number). 

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION: The 

Secretary of HUD is issuing this Order 

of Succession of officials authorized to 

perform the functions and duties of the 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Community Planning and Development 

when the Assistant Secretary is not 

available to exercise the powers or 

perform the duties of the office. This 

publication supersedes all prior orders 

of succession for the Office of 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES