[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 49 (Thursday, March 13, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11909-11910]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6234]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-3918-N-09]


Privacy Act; Proposed Amendment to a System of Records

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration, HUD.

ACTION: Notification of a proposed amendment to an existing system of 
records.

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SUMMARY: The Department is giving notice that it intends to amend the 
following Privacy Act system of records: HUD/H-11, Tenant Housing 
Assistance and Contract Verification Data.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This amendment shall become effective without further 
notice in 30 calendar days (April 14, 1997), unless comments are 
received on or before that date which would result in a contrary 
determination.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, room 
10276, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20410. Communications should refer to the above 
docket number and title. A copy of each communication submitted will be 
available for public inspection and copying between 7:30 a.m. and 5:30 
p.m. weekdays at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeanette Smith, Privacy Act Officer, Telephone Number (202) 708-2374. 
(This is not a tool-free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: HUD-11 contains a record for each individual 
receiving housing assistance from HUD under one of the following 
programs: Section 8, Public/Indian Housing, Section 236 (including 
Section 236 RAP), Rent Supplement, Section 221(d) 3 BMIR, Section 811, 
and Section 202. Also included are records for owners, HAs and Contract 
Administrators who receive payments for the assisted housing programs 
mentioned above. The information contained in this system of records is 
used by the Department to: Monitor compliance with statutory and 
regulatory requirements; provide information for program evaluation; 
perform statistics analyses; identify current recipients for the 
purposes of detecting error, fraud and overpayment of assistance; and 
to forecast budgetary needs. This amendment is being made to add two 
new routine use disclosures (numbers 8 and 9) to allow for the release 
of information to policy analysts or researchers for the performance of 
research and statistical activities on housing and community 
development issues. Routine use number 1 is revised to include a 
reference to the Tenant Eligibility Verification Files which are used 
when computer matching is involved. Also, a routine use disclosure is 
revised to expand the disclosure entities to include individuals under 
contract as well as cooperative agreement or grant (number 2). 
Additionally, routine use number 2 has been revised to include language 
providing for processing certifications/recertifications and for other 
research and statistical purposes not otherwise prohibited by law or 
regulation.
    The revised routine uses paragraph is published in its entirety 
below. Previously, the system and a prefatory statement containing the 
general routine uses applicable to all HUD systems of records was 
published in the Federal Register Privacy Act Issuances, 1995 
Compilation.''
    A report of the Department's intention to add two new routine use 
disclosures and to revise 2 existing routine uses has been submitted to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Senate Committee on 
Governmental Affairs, and the House Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight pursuant to paragraph 4 of Appendix I to OMB Circular No. A-
130, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About 
Individuals,'' February 8, 1996.

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a, 88 Stat. 1896; sec. 7(d) Department of 
Housing and Urban Development Act (42 U.S.C. 3535(d)).

    Issued at Washington, DC, March 4, 1997.
Steven M. Yohai,
Chief, Information Officer.
HUD/H-11

System Name:
    Tenant Housing Assistance and Contract Verification Data.
* * * * *

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OR USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    See routine uses paragraph in prefatory statement. Other routine 
uses include:
    1. To Federal, State, and local agencies to verify the accuracy and 
completeness of data, to verify eligibility or continued eligibility in 
HUD's rental assistance programs, and to aid in identifying tenant 
errors, fraud and abuse. When this involves computer matching, the 
matching is conducted using HUD/PIH-1, the Tenant Eligibility 
Verification Files;
    2. Individuals under contract, cooperative agreement or grant, to 
HUD or under contract, cooperative agreement or grant to another agency 
with funds provided by HUD--for the performance of research and 
statistical activities directly related to the management of HUD's 
rental assistance programs, to support quality control for tenant 
eligibility efforts requiring a random sampling of tenant files to 
determine the extent of administrative errors in making rent 
calculations, eligibility determinations, etc., for processing 
certifications/recertifications, and for other research and statistical 
purposes not otherwise prohibited by law or regulation;
    3. Housing Authorities, (HAs)--to verify the accuracy and 
completeness of tenant data used in determining eligibility and 
continued eligibility and the amount of housing assistance received;
    4. Private Owners of assisted housing--to verify the accuracy and 
completeness of applicant and tenant data used in determining 
eligibility and continued eligibility and the amount of assistance 
received;
    5. To HAs, owners/management agents and contract administrators--to 
identify and resolve discrepancies in tenant data;

[[Page 11910]]

    6. To the Internal Revenue Service--to report income using IRS Form 
1099;
    7. To Social Security Administration and Immigration and 
Naturalization Service--to verify alien status and continued 
eligibility in HUD's rental assistance programs;
    8. To researchers affiliated with academic institutions, with not-
for-profit organizations, or with Federal, state or local governments, 
or to policy researchers--in the form of user--defined microdata files, 
without individual identifiers--name, address, date of birth, and 
Social Security Number--for the performance of research and statistical 
activities on housing and community development issues. Even though no 
individual identifiers will be included in the data files, patterns in 
the data may result in identification of some individual tenants. 
Researchers receiving these files may not use them in whole or in part 
in making any determination about an identifiable individual, nor may 
they release the data to others in a form that can identify individual 
tenants. Records will be released under this paragraph only with 
approval of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and 
Research;
    9. To State/County welfare, social service, or employment agencies 
for the purpose of matching assisted housing tenant records to 
employment, education and other data which would be transmitted to the 
HUD Office of Policy Development and Research for statistical analyses 
of the resource requirements of welfare reform. The assisted housing 
tenant records released under this paragraph may not be used by the 
State/County agencies to make decisions concerning the rights, 
benefits, or privileges of specific individuals.

[FR Doc. 97-6234 Filed 3-12-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-01-M