64246 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD) 

Statement of Regulatory Priorities 

The Regulatory Plan for the 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) for Fiscal Year (FY) 

2010 highlights the most significant 

regulations and policy initiatives that 

HUD seeks to complete during the 

upcoming fiscal year. As the federal 

agency that serves as the nation’s 

housing agency, committed to 

addressing the housing needs of 

Americans, promoting economic and 

community development, and enforcing 

the nation’s fair housing laws, HUD 

plays a significant role in the lives of 

families and in communities throughout 

America. The Department’s program 

and initiatives help to provide decent, 

safe, and sanitary housing, and create 

suitable living environments for all 

Americans. HUD expands housing 

opportunities for Americans by 

enforcing fair housing laws that operate 

to eliminate housing discrimination. 

HUD also provides housing and other 

essential support to a wide range of 

individuals and families with special 

needs, including homeless individuals, 

the elderly, and persons with 

disabilities. 

Secretary Donovan has directed that 

HUD must have a balanced, 

comprehensive national housing policy, 

one that supports and preserves 

sustainable homeownership, but also 

provides affordable rental housing, with 

a focus on preservation of developments 

that are integral to sustainability, such 

as those adjacent to significant 

transportation options, or with great 

access to jobs. Increasing the availability 

of affordable rental housing provides a 

means of addressing the increase in 

homelessness. 

HUD’s Regulatory Plan for FY2010 

reflects one step in achieving this 

balanced, comprehensive national 

housing policy, and is based on major 

legislation recently enacted that 

supports such a policy. 

Priority: Preserving and Expanding 

Affordable Rental Housing and 

Increasing Homeownership 

The Housing and Economic Recovery 

Act of 2008 (HERA) establishes a 

Housing Trust Fund to be administered 

by HUD, for the purpose of providing 

grants to states to increase and preserve 

the supply of rental housing for 

extremely low- and very low-income 

families, including homeless families, 

and to increase homeownership for 

extremely low- and very low-income 

families. Although the Housing Trust 

Fund supports both increases in rental 

housing and homeownership, the 

primary focus of the Housing Trust 

Fund is rental housing for extremely 

low- and very low-income households, 

since HERA provides that no more than 

10 percent of each formula allocation 

may be expended on homeownership. 

HERA charges HUD to establish, 

through regulation, the formula for 

distribution of Housing Trust Fund 

grants to states. HERA specifies that 

only certain factors are to be part of the 

formula, and it designates certain factors 

as priority factors. In addition to the 

charge to establish a formula by rule, the 

statute also directs HUD to issue 

regulations to carry out the statutory 

requirements applicable to use of 

Housing Trust Fund grants. Eligible 

trust fund activities include production, 

preservation, and rehabilitation of 

housing for rental housing and 

homeownership through new 

construction, acquisition, and 

acquisition and rehabilitation. 

Regulatory Action: Housing Trust Fund 

– Allocation Formula and Program 

Requirements 

HUD will issue two rules, as provided 

by statute. The first rule will address the 

formula by which Housing Trust Fund 

grant will be allocated to the states. The 

second rule will provide for 

implementation of the program 

requirements. Both rules will provide 

the opportunity for public comment. 

The Housing Trust Fund represents a 

bipartisan enactment of possibly the 

most significant new federal housing 

production program since the creation 

of the HOME Investment Partnerships 

program in 1990. Capitalization of this 

fund through appropriations and 

regulatory implementation will 

constitute a major step toward 

increasing the supply of affordable 

housing. 

Priority: Expanding Affordable Housing 

by Building Upon Success 

The HOME Investment Partnerships 

(HOME) Program, authorized by the 

Cranston-Gonzales National Affordable 

Housing Act, is the largest federal block 

grant to state and local governments 

designed exclusively to create affordable 

housing for low-income households. 

Each year, the HOME program allocates 

approximately $2 billion among the 

states and hundreds of localities 

nationwide. The program was designed 

to reinforce several important values 

and principles of community 

development, including empowering 

people and communities to design and 

implement strategies tailored to their 

own needs and priorities; emphasizing 

the importance of consolidated 

planning, which expands and 

strengthens partnerships among all 

levels of government and the private 

sector in the development of affordable 

housing; and, through matching funds, 

mobilizing community resources in 

support of affordable housing. HOME is 

a highly successful program through 

which nearly 912,000 affordable 

housing units for low- and very lowincome households have been provided 

since 1992. 

Regulatory Action: HOME Investment 

Partnerships – Improving Performance 

and Accountability; Updating Property 

Standards and Instituting Energy 

Efficiency Standards 

The Department will publish 

significant proposed amendments to the 

HOME Program regulations. These 

regulations were last revised in 1996. 

This proposed rule would establish new 

performance standards for the use of 

HOME program funds, including 

establishing expeditious but responsible 

use of funds to provide new affordable 

housing opportunities, and would 

ensure that future HOME units are 

energy efficient and incorporate green 

building techniques. 

Priority: Housing the Homelessness 

The Homeless Emergency Assistance 

and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 

2009 (HEARTH Act) was enacted on 

May 20, 2009. The HEARTH Act 

reauthorizes the homeless assistance 

programs administered by HUD under 

the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

Assistance Act, and consolidates these 

programs into a single grant program. 

The consolidated program, which 

consists of an Emergency Solutions 

Grant program, a Continuum of Care 

program, and a Rural Housing Stability 

program, is designed to ensure that the 

range of needs of homeless persons 

continue to be addressed while 

providing for consolidated application 

and administration to ease 

administrative burden and improve 

coordination among providers and, 

consequently, increase the effectiveness 

of responding to the needs of homeless 

persons. 

In addition to consolidating HUD’s 

Supportive Housing Program, Shelter 

Plus Care, and the Moderate 

Rehabilitation/Single Room Occupancy 

Program into a single Continuum of 

Care program, key features of the 

HEARTH Act include: revising HUD’s 

definition of homelessness by including 

people at imminent risk of losing their 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 64247 

housing, as well as families or youth 

who live in precarious situations and 

are unlikely to become stable; 

establishing the Rural Housing Stability 

Assistance Program, which provides 

rural communities with greater 

flexibility in using homeless assistance 

funds to address the needs of homeless 

people or those in the worst housing 

situations in their communities; 

authorizing that up to 20 percent of 

funds may be used to prevent 

homelessness or rapidly re-house 

people who become homeless through 

the new Emergency Solution Grants; 

and codifying HUD’s Continuum of Care 

process, established administratively by 

HUD in 1995. 

Regulatory Action: Homeless Emergency 

Assistance and Rapid Transition to 

Housing Program; Consolidation of 

HUD Homeless Assistance Programs 

The HEARTH Act directs HUD to 

implement this program through 

rulemaking. HUD will issue two rules to 

implement this new program. The 

definition of homelessness, which is key 

to ensuring that the goals and objectives 

of the new statute are met, will be 

issued first as a separate rule for 

comment. HUD will follow this single 

issue rule with a larger rule that 

provides for HUD’s implementation of 

the program requirements. The funding 

for this new program and HUD’s 

implementation through rulemaking, as 

directed by statute, will provide 

communities with new resources and 

better tools to prevent and end 

homelessness. 

Aggregate Costs and Benefits 

Executive Order 12866, as amended, 

requires the agency to provide its best 

estimate of the combined aggregate costs 

and benefits of all regulations included 

in the agency’s Regulatory Plan that will 

be made effective in calendar year 2010. 

HUD expects that the neither the total 

economic costs nor the total efficiency 

gains will exceed $100 million. HUD 

anticipates that, over the next twelve 

months, only one rule included in its 

Regulatory Plan, the Housing Trust 

Fund will have an economically 

significant impact. HUD’s choice of an 

allocation formula has an impact on the 

distribution of over $100 million of 

transfers. The two additional rules on 

the Regulatory Plan are not anticipated 

to have an economically significant 

impact. HUD believes that the HOME 

Investment Partnerships will impose 

only minor costs in the form 

performance standards and 

economically insignificant benefits in 

the form of energy savings. The 

Homeless Emergency Assistance and 

Rapid Transition to Housing Program 

will lead to greater efficiency in the 

administration of housing assistance 

programs, but these savings are not 

expected to be economically significant. 

The Priority Regulations That Comprise 

HUD’s FY 2010 Regulatory Plan 

A more detailed description of the 

priority regulations that comprise 

HUD’s FY 2010 Regulatory Plan follows. 

HUD—Office of the Secretary 

(HUDSEC) 

PROPOSED RULE STAGE 

86. HOME INVESTMENT 

PARTNERSHIPS—IMPROVING 

PERFORMANCE AND 

ACCOUNTABILITY; UPDATING 

PROPERTY STANDARDS AND 

INSTITUTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY 

STANDARDS (FR–5234) 

Priority: 

Other Significant 

Legal Authority: 

42 USC 12701 to 12839; 42 USC 

3535(d) 

CFR Citation: 

24 CFR 92 

Legal Deadline: 

None 

Abstract: 

The Cranston-Gonzalez National 

Affordable Housing Act of 1990 

authorized the HOME Investment 

Partnerships (HOME) Program, an 

affordable housing block grant under 

which funds are allocated to states and 

units of local government by formula. 

The program has been funded each year 

since 1992. The program operated 

under a series of interim rules until 

1996, when a final rule was 

promulgated. This rule would amend 

HOME regulations to implement 

performance standards and require 

more timely housing production. It 

would also update the property 

standards to incorporate green building 

techniques and energy-efficiency 

standards for HOME-assisted units. 

Statement of Need: 

The Cranston-Gonzales National 

Affordable Housing Act notes that there 

is critical need to increase the supply 

of decent, safe, and sanitary housing for 

all Americans, particularly among lowincome families. HOME funds may be 

used for a variety of housing activities, 

including rental assistance, housing 

rehabilitation, assistance to 

homebuyers, new construction, and to 

support states and units of local 

government implement local housing 

strategies designed to increase 

homeownership and affordable housing 

opportunities. The HOME program is 

now in its 18th year of funding. This 

rulemaking is needed to move the 

program forward by providing greater 

clarity, establishing and improving 

performance standards, and providing 

participating jurisdictions with the 

tools they need to address troubled 

projects. The rule would update builder 

standards for HOME-assisted facilities 

to incorporate energy efficiency and 

green building standards. 

Summary of Legal Basis: 

Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez 

National Affordable Housing Act 

authorizes funding to participating 

jurisdictions for various housing 

purposes, including strengthening 

public-private partnerships to increase 

the supply of affordable housing, 

including homeownership. The goals of 

the program include expanding the 

supply of decent, safe, sanitary, and 

affordable housing, primarily for very 

low-income and low-income Americans 

and to strengthen the abilities of states 

and units of local government to design 

and implement local strategies for 

achieving an adequate supply of 

decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable 

housing. 

Alternatives: 

These changes can be implemented 

only by regulatory amendment. Other 

options considered included 

maintaining the status quo. However, 

after eleven years of experience under 

the currently codified rule, HUD has 

identified a need to increase 

accountability with respect to 

performance. Moreover, to ensure that 

these performance standards are 

effective, the program will need clear 

regulatory requirements to base an 

action against a grantee. The rule 

would reflect these policy goals. 

Anticipated Cost and Benefits: 

No increased costs are anticipated as 

a result of the changes related to 

performance standards. There may be 

some incremental costs associated with 

the imposition of green building 

technologies and energy-efficiency 

measures. However, those costs will be 

offset by lower operating costs for 


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64248 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

energy-efficient housing and increased 

affordability for low- and very lowincome families. 

Risks: 

This rule poses no risk to public health, 

safety, or the environment. 

Timetable: 

Action Date FR Cite 

NPRM 02/00/10 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Required: 

No 

Small Entities Affected: 

No 

Government Levels Affected: 

None 

Agency Contact: 

Virginia Sardone 

Deputy Director, Office of Community 

Planning and Development, Office of 

Affordable Housing Programs 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development 

HUD, 451 7th St SW 

Washington, DC 20410 

Phone: 202 708–2470 

RIN: 2501–AC94 

HUD—Office of Community Planning 

and Development (CPD) 

PROPOSED RULE STAGE 

87. HOUSING TRUST FUND 

PROGRAM—ALLOCATION FORMULA 

AND PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS 

(FR–5246) 

Priority: 

Economically Significant. Major under 

5 USC 801. 

Legal Authority: 

12 USC 4568; 42 USC 3535(d) 

CFR Citation: 

24 CFR 93 

Legal Deadline: 

Final, Statutory, June 30, 2009, 

Regulations describing Formula 

Distribution; however, funds are not 

available to or appropriated for the 

Housing Trust Fund. 

Abstract: 

The Housing and Economic Recovery 

Act of 2008 (HERA) establishes a 

Housing Trust Fund. Section 1338 of 

HERA directs HUD to establish and 

manage a Housing Trust Fund, which 

is to be funded with amounts allocated 

by the government-sponsored 

enterprises or by any amounts that may 

be appropriated, transferred, or credited 

to the Housing Trust Fund under any 

other provision of law. The purpose of 

the Housing Trust Fund is to provide 

grants to states for use to: (1) increase 

and preserve the supply of rental 

housing for extremely low- and very 

low-income families, including 

homeless families; and (2) increase 

homeownership for extremely low- and 

very low-income families. The primary 

focus of the Housing Trust Fund is 

rental housing for extremely low- and 

very low-income households. HERA 

provides that no more than 10 percent 

of each formula allocation may be 

expended on homeownership. 

HERA charges HUD to establish, by 

July 2009, and, through regulation, the 

formula for the distribution of the 

Housing Trust Fund grants to states, 

and to follow that rule with one that 

implements the Housing Trust Fund 

program requirements. 

Statement of Need: 

In enacting Housing Trust Fund 

legislation, Congress determined that 

the national housing policy of the past 

several years was overly focused on 

homeownership and did not provide 

adequate attention to the need of 

renters and the need for affordable 

rental housing. The Housing Trust 

Fund legislation, as signed into law, 

provides increased resources to be 

directed to the preservation and 

expansion of affordable rental housing. 

Summary of Legal Basis: 

The rules implementing the Housing 

Trust Fund formula allocation and 

establishing the program requirements 

are mandated by HERA. 

Alternatives: 

HERA requires implementation of both 

the formula and the program 

requirements by regulation. 

Accordingly, this rule fulfills a 

statutory mandate to proceed with 

rulemaking to codify the policies and 

procedures governing the HTF. The 

prescriptive statutory language of HERA 

limits the policy options considered by 

HUD. Areas in which the statute 

provides some discretion and the 

Department is considering alternatives 

include: (1) the contents of the 

statutorily mandated allocation plans to 

be submitted by states and state 

designated entities; (2) the eligible 

activities that may be carried out with 

HTF funds; and (3) appropriate 

benchmarks and performance goals for 

the use of HTF funds. 

Anticipated Cost and Benefits: 

The benefit of this program is the 

increase in affordable rental housing, 

which will present savings to lowincome and very low-income 

individuals with respect to amount of 

income they spend on housing, and 

contribution to the prevention of 

homelessness, which has increased as 

the unemployment rate has risen. The 

economic impact of the Housing Trust 

Fund consists of a transfer from the 

taxpayer, through State governments, to 

extremely low- and very low-income 

families. By expanding and preserving 

the supply of housing and lowering 

financial barriers to homeownership, 

the Housing Trust Fund will reduce the 

housing costs of extremely low- and 

very low-income families, and thus 

raise the consumer surplus of the 

program’s beneficiaries. 

Risks: 

This rule poses no risk to public health, 

safety, or the environment. 

Timetable: 

Action Date FR Cite 

NPRM 01/00/10 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Required: 

No 

Small Entities Affected: 

No 

Government Levels Affected: 

Local, State, Tribal 

Agency Contact: 

Marcia Sigal 

Director, Program Policy Division, Office 

of Affordable Housing Programs 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development 

Office of Community Planning and 

Development 

HUD, 451 7th St. Street 

Washington, DC 20410 

Phone: 202 708–2470 

Fax: 202 708–1744 

RIN: 2506–AC23 


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HUD—CPD 

88. ∑ HOMELESS EMERGENCY 

ASSISTANCE AND RAPID 

TRANSITION TO HOUSING 

PROGRAM; CONSOLIDATION OF HUD 

HOMELESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS 

(FR–5333) 

Priority: 

Other Significant 

Legal Authority: 

42 USC 11371 et seq.; 42 USC 3535(d) 

CFR Citation: 

24 CFR 577 to 579 

Legal Deadline: 

Final, Statutory, May 20, 2010, 

Regulations governing operation of 

programs created or affected by 

HEARTH Act of 2009. 

Abstract: 

The Homeless Emergency Assistance 

and Rapid Transition to Housing Act 

of 2009 (HEARTH Act) reauthorizes the 

homeless assistance programs 

administered by HUD under the 

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 

Act, and consolidates these programs 

into a single grant program. The 

consolidated program, which consists 

of an Emergency Solutions Grant 

Program, a Continuum of Care Program, 

and a Rural Housing Stability Program, 

is designed to ensure that the range of 

needs of homeless persons continue to 

be addressed, but provides for 

consolidated grant application and 

administration to ease administrative 

burden and improve coordination 

among providers and, consequently, 

increase the effectiveness of responses 

to the needs of homeless persons. 

HUD will issue two rules to implement 

this new program. One rule will solely 

address the definitions of ‘‘homeless,’’ 

‘‘homeless individual,’’ and ‘‘homeless 

person,’’ the meaning of which are 

essential to the coverage provided by 

this program. The second rule will 

establish the regulatory framework to 

implement the program. 

Statement of Need: 

These rules are needed to fully 

implement the Homeless Emergency 

Assistance and Rapid Transition to 

Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act). 

The HEARTH Act requires that HUD 

issue implementing regulations 

governing the operations of the 

programs it creates or modifies by no 

later than twelve months after the date 

of enactment. 

Summary of Legal Basis: 

The rules implementing the 

consolidated McKinney-Vento 

Homeless Assistance programs are 

mandated by the HEARTH Act. 

Alternatives: 

The HEARTH Act requires 

implementation of the program by 

rulemaking. Accordingly, this rule will 

assist in meeting the statutory mandate 

to proceed with rulemaking to codify 

the policies and procedures governing 

the HEARTH Act. The prescriptive 

statutory language of the HEARTH Act 

limits policy options available; 

however, HUD is considering options 

where the HEARTH Act provides 

discretion including: (1) determining 

the appropriate remedial action to 

ensure the fair distribution of assistance 

for geographic areas that do not meet 

the requirements for funding or where 

there is no collaborative applicant for 

a geographic area, and (2) establishing 

the dates by which the recipient or 

project sponsor must expend grants for 

a homeless assistance. 

Anticipated Cost and Benefits: 

The consolidated homeless assistance 

program authorized by the HEARTH 

Act is designed to more rapidly 

respond to the needs of the homeless 

and, therefore, prevent homelessness 

and, initially, prevent the rise in the 

number of homeless persons. 

Risks: 

This rule poses no risk to public health, 

safety, or the environment. 

Timetable: 

Action Date FR Cite 

NPRM 01/00/10 

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Required: 

No 

Small Entities Affected: 

No 

Government Levels Affected: 

None 

Agency Contact: 

Ann Marie Oliva 

Director, Office of Special Needs 

Assistance Program 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development 

Office of Community Planning and 

Development 

HUD, 451 7th St. Street 

Washington, DC 20410 

Phone: 202 402–4497 

RIN: 2506–AC26 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–S 


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