10716 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 47 / Thursday, March 12, 2009 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Housing Service 

Notice of Request for Extension of a 

Currently Approved Information 

Collection 

AGENCY: Rural Housing Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed collection; comments 

requested. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice announces the Rural Housing 

Service’s (RHS) intention to request an 

extension for a currently approved 

information collection in support of the 

program for the Housing Preservation 

Grant Program. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by May 11, 2009 to be assured 

of consideration. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bonnie Edwards-Jackson, Finance and 

Loan Analyst, Multi-Family Housing 

Preservation and Direct Loan Division, 

USDA Rural Development, Stop 0781, 

1400 Independence Ave., SW., 

Washington, DC 20250–0782, telephone 

(202) 690–0759 (voice) (this is not a toll 

free number) or (800) 877–8339 (TDD– 

Federal Information Relay Service) or 

via e-mail at, 

Bonnie.Edwards@wdc.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: RHS/Housing Preservation 

Grant Program. 

OMB Number: 0575–0115. 

Expiration Date of Approval: June 30, 

2009. 

Type of Request: Extension of a 

currently approved information 

collection. 

Abstract: The primary purpose of the 

Housing Preservation Grant Program is 

to repair or rehabilitate individual 

housing, rental properties, or co-ops 

owned or occupied by very low- and 

low-income rural persons. Grantees will 

provide eligible homeowners, owners of 

rental properties and owners of co-ops 

with financial assistance through loans, 

grants, interest reduction payments or 

other comparable financial assistance 

for necessary repairs and rehabilitation 

of dwellings to bring them up to code 

or minimum property standards. 

Where repair and rehabilitation 

assistance is not economically feasible 

or practical the replacement of existing, 

individual owner occupied housing is 

available. 

These grants were established by 

Public Law 98–181, the Housing UrbanRural Recovery Act of 1983, which 

amended the Housing Act of 1979 (Pub. 

L. 93–383) by adding section 533, 42 

U.S.C. S 2490(m), Housing Preservation 

Grants (HPG). In addition, the Secretary 

of Agriculture has authority to prescribe 

rules and regulations to implement HPG 

and other programs under 42 U.S.C. S 

1480(j). 

Section 533(d) is prescriptive about 

the information applicants are to submit 

to RHS as part of their application and 

in the assessments and criteria RHS is 

to use in selecting grantees. An 

applicant is to submit a ‘‘statement of 

activity’’ describing its proposed 

program, including the specific 

activities it will undertake, and its 

schedule. RHS is required in turn to 

evaluate proposals on a set of prescribed 

criteria, for which the applicant will 

also have to provide information, such 

as: (1) Very low- and low-income 

persons proposed to be served by the 

repair and rehabilitation activities; (2) 

participation by other public and 

private organizations to leverage funds 

and lower the cost to the HPG program; 

(3) the area to be served in terms of 

population and need: (4) cost data to 

assure greatest degree of assistance at 

lowest cost; (5) administrative capacity 

of the applicant to carry out the 

program. The information collected will 

be the minimum required by law and by 

necessity for RHS to assure that it funds 

responsible grantees proposing feasible 

projects in areas of greatest need. Most 

data are taken from a localized area, 

although some are derived from census 

reports of city, county and Federal 

governments showing population and 

housing characteristics. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average .81 hours per 

response. 

Respondents: A public body or a 

public or private nonprofit corporation. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

2,258. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 6.8. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 12,517 hours. 

Copies of this information collection 

can be obtained from Linda WattsThomas, Regulations and Paperwork 

Management Branch at (202 692–0226). 

Comments 

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of RHS, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of 

RHS’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

through the use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments may be sent to Linda 

Watts-Thomas, Regulations and 

Paperwork Management Branch, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Rural 

Development, STOP 0742, 1400 

Independence Ave., SW., Washington, 

DC 20250. All responses to this notice 

will be summarized and included in the 

request for OMB approval. All 

comments will become a matter of 

public record. 

Dated: February 4, 2009. 

James C. Alsop, 

Acting Administrator, Rural Housing Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–5329 Filed 3–11–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–XV–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Telecommunications and 

Information Administration 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Utilities Service 

[Docket No. 090309298–9299–01] 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 Broadband Initiatives 

AGENCIES: National Telecommunications 

and Information Administration, U.S. 

Department of Commerce; Rural 

Utilities Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture. 

ACTION: Joint request for information 

and notice of public meetings. 

SUMMARY: Section 6001 of the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(Recovery Act) requires the National 

Telecommunications and Information 

Administration (NTIA) to establish the 

Broadband Technology Opportunities 

Program (BTOP). The Recovery Act 

further establishes authority for the 

Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to make 

grants and loans for the deployment and 

construction of broadband systems. 

NTIA and RUS will hold a series of 

public meetings about the new programs 

beginning on March 16, 2009. In 

addition to the information received 

about the new programs during the 

public meetings, written comments will 

be accepted through April 13, 2009. 

Through this notice, guidance is 

provided as to the matters to be 

discussed at these public meetings and 


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