Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 59 / Monday, March 30, 2009 / Notices 14149 

Description of the need for the 

information and proposed use: The 

collection of information implements 

statute and gives Public Housing 

Agencies (PHAs) and assisted housing 

owners the tools for adopting and 

implementing fair, effective and 

comprehensive policies for screening 

out program applicants who engage in 

illegal drug use or other criminal 

activity and for evicting or terminating 

assistance of persons who engage in 

such activity. PHAs that administer a 

Section 8 or public housing program 

under an Annual Contributions Contract 

(ACC) with HUD may request criminal 

history records from any law 

enforcement agency concerning an adult 

member of a household applying for 

admission to a public housing or 

Section 8 program. 

Agency form numbers: None. 

Members of affected public: State or 

Local Government; Public Housing 

Agencies (PHAs). 

Estimation of the total number of 

hours needed to prepare the information 

collection including number of 

respondents, frequency of response, and 

hours of response: 3300 PHAs 

(respondents); estimated average 

number of respondents 15,200; total 

annual burden hours 73,550. 

Status of the proposed information 

collection: Extension. 

Authority: Section 3506 of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, 

as amended. 

Dated: March 24, 2009. 

Merrie Nichols-Dixon, 

Deputy Director for Policy, Program and 

Legislative Initiatives. 

[FR Doc. E9–6952 Filed 3–27–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5298–N–01] 

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit 

(LIHTC) Tenant Data Collection; 

Advance Solicitation of Comment on 

Data Collection Methodology 

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Policy Development and 

Research, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Housing and Economic 

Recovery Act of 2008 requires state 

agencies administering properties 

receiving low-income housing tax 

credits to submit to HUD, not less than 

annually, certain demographic and 

economic information on households 

residing in such properties. This statute 

also requires HUD to establish standards 

and definitions for the information that 

state housing agencies must submit, and 

to provide them with technical 

assistance in establishing systems to 

compile and submit such information. 

This notice seeks early input from 

applicable state agencies, and other 

interested stakeholders on a 

methodology or approach to meet this 

statutory requirement in advance of 

HUD’s submission of a formal proposal 

for public comment. 

Comment Due Date: May 29, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this notice to the Regulations Division, 

Office of General Counsel, 451 7th 

Street, SW., Room 10276, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, 

Washington, DC 20410–0500. 

Communications must refer to the above 

docket number and title. There are two 

methods for submitting public 

comments. All submissions must refer 

to the above docket number and title. 

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. 

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 the 

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 rule. 

No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile 

(FAX) comments are not acceptable. 

Public Inspection of Public 

Comments. All properly submitted 

comments and communications 

submitted to HUD will be available 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). 

Individuals with speech or hearing 

impairments may access this number 

through TTY by calling the Federal 

Information Relay Service at 800–877– 

8339. Copies of all comments submitted 

are available for inspection and 

downloading at http:// 

www.regulations.gov 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

questions on LIHTC tenant data 

collection, contact Michael K. Hollar, 

Senior Economist, Economic 

Development and Public Finance 

Division, Office of Policy Development 

and Research, Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, 

SW., Room 8216, Washington, DC 

20410–6000, telephone number (202) 

402–5878, or send an e-mail to 

Michael.K.Hollar@hud.gov. For specific 

legal questions pertaining to Section 42 

of the Internal Revenue Code, contact 

Branch 5, Office of the Associate Chief 

Counsel, Passthroughs and Special 

Industries, Internal Revenue Service, 

1111 Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20224, telephone 

number (202) 622–3040, fax number 

(202) 622–4451. Additional copies of 

this notice are available through HUD 

User at (800) 245–2691 for a small fee 

to cover duplication and mailing costs. 

Copies Available Electronically: This 

notice and additional information about 

the LIHTC program are available 

electronically on the Internet at http:// 

www.huduser.org/datasets/lihtc.html. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 

2008 (HERA) 

Section 2835(d) of HERA (Pub. L. 

110–289, approved July 30, 2008) 

amends Title I of the U.S. Housing Act 

of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq. ) (1937 

Act) to add a new section 36 (to be 

codified as 42 U.S.C. 1437z-8) that 

requires each state agency administering 

tax credits under section 42 of the 

Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (lowincome housing tax credits or LIHTC) to 

furnish HUD, not less than annually, 

information concerning the race, 

ethnicity, family composition, age, 

income, use of rental assistance under 

section 8(o) of the U.S. Housing of 1937 

or other similar assistance, disability 

status, and monthly rental payments of 

households residing in each property 

receiving such credits through such 

agency. New section 36(a) of the 1937 

Act further provides that, to the extent 

feasible, each agency administering tax 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
14150 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 59 / Monday, March 30, 2009 / Notices 

credits should collect such information 

through existing reporting processes and 

in a manner that minimizes the burden 

on property owners. 

New section 36(b) requires HUD to 

establish standards and definitions for 

the information to be collected by state 

agencies and to provide states with 

technical assistance in establishing 

systems to compile and submit such 

information and, in coordination with 

other federal agencies administering 

housing programs, establish procedures 

to minimize duplicative reporting 

requirements for properties assisted 

under multiple housing programs. 

New section 36(c) provides that HUD 

‘‘shall, not less than annually, compile 

and make publicly available the 

information submitted to the Secretary 

pursuant to subsection (a).’’ 

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit 

LIHTC is a tax incentive intended to 

increase the availability of low-income 

housing. Section 42 of the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 provides an 

income tax credit to owners of newly 

constructed or substantially 

rehabilitated low-income rental housing 

projects. The credits allocated are based 

on the cost of units placed in service as 

low-income units under particular 

minimum occupancy and maximum 

rent criteria. In general, a building must 

meet one of two thresholds to be eligible 

for LIHTC: (1) At least 20 percent of the 

units must be rent-restricted and 

occupied by tenants with incomes no 

higher than 50 percent of the area 

median gross income (AMGI); or (2) At 

least 40 percent of the units must be 

rent-restricted and occupied by tenants 

with incomes no higher than 60 percent 

of AMGI. The term ‘‘rent-restricted’’ 

means that gross rent, including an 

allowance for tenant-paid utilities, 

cannot exceed 30 percent of the tenant’s 

imputed income limitation (i.e. , 50 

percent or 60 percent of AMGI). The 

rent and occupancy thresholds remain 

in effect for at least 15 years, and 

building owners are required to enter 

into agreements to maintain the lowincome character of the building for at 

least an additional 15 years. 

Currently, there is no comprehensive 

administrative database containing data 

on LIHTC tenant households. HUD’s 

Office of Policy Development and 

Research, under its broad authority to 

conduct research on housing and urban 

development issues, has collected and 

published data on LIHTC projects 

periodically throughout the life of the 

LIHTC program, and annually since 

1999. The HERA requirement reflects 

Congressional intent to have data on 

households residing in LIHTC 

properties collected annually and 

submitted under uniform standards. 

This Document 

Through this notice, HUD seeks to 

inform all the public of its 

responsibilities with respect to LIHTC 

data collection, and to reach a broader 

audience (than is possible through 

informal meetings) to solicit early input 

from state agencies and other interested 

members of the public on standards and 

definitions that would be helpful to 

state agencies in their collection of the 

information required by section 36 of 

the 1937 Act, as well as input on 

procedures that would minimize 

duplicative reporting requirements. 

In an effort to initiate discussion of 

these statutory requirements and 

commence the solicitation of informal 

feedback on these requirements, the 

data collection requirements were first 

discussed in a public forum at the 

Tenant Rental Assistance Certification 

System (TRACS) quarterly industry 

meeting on October 22, 2008. At that 

time, HUD also announced its intention 

to create an informal working group, 

open, at any time, to any interested 

parties, for the members of the working 

group to share their individual views of 

this data collection effort, and any past 

experiences with similar data collection 

efforts. HUD will use the information 

provided by the various members of the 

working group and consider the 

members’ individual recommendations 

and suggestions in its development of 

the standards and definitions that HUD 

is charged with issuing under section 36 

of the 1937 Act. 

HUD is seeking feedback from the 

public on the standards, definitions, and 

procedures for collecting the required 

data. One possible approach for which 

it solicits early comment, is to use two 

forms, one requesting data on LIHTC 

properties, indicating among other 

things project-based subsidies (so that 

universally applicable project data need 

not be separately reported for each 

tenant), and the other requesting data on 

LIHTC tenants and unit-specific 

characteristics. HUD requests that the 

public provide comments on whether 

this approach will minimize reporting 

burden on property managers, and on 

any other approaches that HUD should 

consider. 

To collect LIHTC property 

characteristics, HUD seeks comments on 

whether the agency should use the form 

currently used to collect data in HUD’s 

LIHTC projects placed in service 

database. Annually, HUD requests, 

through a contractor, data on a 

volunteer basis from the state housing 

finance agencies on LIHTC projects 

placed in service. This form has two 

advantages over creating a new form. 

First, it is OMB-approved through 2011 

and therefore would not require a new 

review under the Paperwork Reduction 

Act unless modifications are made. 

Second, the state housing agencies 

currently use this form and are familiar 

with it. Continuing with a familiar form 

would assist the goal of minimizing the 

reporting burden. More information on 

HUD’s current LIHTC projects placed in 

service database can be found here: 

http://lihtc.huduser.org/. 

The proposed tenant data collection 

form is based on the National Council 

of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA’s) 

best practices Tenant Income 

Certification (TIC) Form. The IRS does 

not require a standard form across states 

to certify tenants residing in LIHTCfinanced units. NCSHA’s best practices 

TIC form is used by many state housing 

finance agencies, either as is or in a 

slightly modified version. Since the data 

requested on this form is already 

collected by many state housing finance 

agencies, HUD believes this form, 

modified to account for additional 

information that HUD is required by 

statute to report, would minimize the 

reporting burden on the state agencies. 

The form contemplated by HUD amends 

NCSHA’s TIC to include race, ethnicity, 

and disability status. 

HUD anticipates publishing its formal 

proposal for implementing the data 

collection during the summer of 2009. 

Once data transmission methods are in 

place, data collection could begin as 

early as the first or second quarter of 

2010. 

Dated: March 19, 2009. 

Jean Lin Pao, 

General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy 

Development and Research. 

[FR Doc. E9–7041 Filed 3–27–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[CO200–LLCOF02000–L07770900–XZ0000– 

241A00] 

Notice of Meeting, Front Range 

Resource Advisory Council (Colorado) 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Federal Land Policy and Management 

Act (FLPMA) and the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act of 1972 (FACA), the U.S. 

Department of the Interior, Bureau of 

Land Management (BLM) Front Range 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES