Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Notices 106551 

9 Id. 

10See, for example, Immigration Legal Resource 

Center (IRLC), Naturalization Test Redesign (Sept. 

8, 2023), https://www.ilrc.org/resources/ 

naturalization-test-redesign (last visited Nov 20, 

2024). 

11 Id. 

12 Id. 

13See Executive Order 14012 (February 2, 2021), 

available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/ 

FR-2021-02-05/pdf/2021-02563.pdf. 

14See USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, 

Citizenship and Naturalization, Part E, English and 

Civics Testing and Exceptions, Chapter 2, English 

and Civics Testing [12 USCIS–PM E.2], available at 

https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12- 

part-e-chapter-2 (last visited Nov. 20, 2024). See 

also Study for the Test, available at https://

www.uscis.gov/citizenship/find-study-materialsand-resources/study-for-the-test (last visited Nov. 

20, 2024). 

better for English as a second language 

students at all levels. Most feedback, 

however, opposed changing the civics 

test to a multiple-choice format. These 

commenters stated the change: 

• Would require reading 

comprehension skills at a significantly 

higher level of English proficiency and 

reading vocabulary knowledge than is 

currently required for naturalization.9

• Would require test-taking skills in 

multiple choice format that is not 

currently required of naturalization 

applicants.10

• Would create new challenges for 

adult learners because it requires a 

higher level of reading ability that 

cannot be met by low-literacy adults 

who learn orally.11

• Would pose a barrier to those 

without formal education.12

The objective of the trial was to 

determine an efficient way to reduce 

undue barriers 13 to taking the 

naturalization test and the majority of 

the feedback received revealed concerns 

that the trial version of the test may 

increase burdens on applicants. 

Therefore, USCIS has decided to 

terminate the previously proposed trial 

test altogether. 

III. Termination Is Immediately 

Effective 

The proposed trial test is terminated 

effective immediately. USCIS continues 

to use the current 2008 version of the 

English and civics test.14

Ur M. Jaddou, 

Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration 

Services, Department of Homeland Security. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30213 Filed 12–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9111–97–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–6505–N–01] 

Request for Information Regarding 

Resilience Measures and Insurance 

Coverage 

AGENCY: Office of Policy Development 

and Research, Department of Housing 

and Urban Development (HUD). 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: Homeowners and housing 

providers have experienced significant 

increases in property insurance 

premiums and deductibles in the past 

several years, along with reductions in 

insurance coverage, added 

requirements, and withdrawals of 

insurance companies from certain 

markets. In July 2024, HUD convened an 

insurance summit to address challenges 

in the property insurance market. The 

insurance summit highlighted the need 

to increase property resilience to natural 

hazards and to clarify the relationship 

between resilience measures and costs 

to property owners, including the cost 

of insurance. Through this Request for 

Information (RFI), HUD seeks public 

input regarding how best to assess 

measures to increase the resilience of 

residential properties to natural hazards 

and extreme weather. This information 

will allow HUD to develop policies that 

better support HUD’s program 

participants in increasing resilience to 

natural hazards, including extreme 

weather, and accessing affordable 

insurance for their properties. 

DATES: Comment Due Date: February 28, 

2025. Late-filed comments will be 

considered to the extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments responsive 

to this RFI. All submissions must refer 

to the docket number and title of the 

RFI. Commenters are encouraged to 

identify the number of the specific 

question or questions to which they are 

responding. Responses should include 

the name(s) of the person(s) or 

organization(s) filing the comment; 

however, because any responses 

received by HUD will be publicly 

available, responses should not include 

any personally identifiable information 

or confidential commercial information. 

There are two methods for submitting 

public comments. 

1. Electronic Submission of 

Comments. Interested persons may 

submit comments electronically through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

2. 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. HUD 

strongly encourages commenters to 

submit their feedback and 

recommendations electronically. 

Electronic submission of comments 

allows the commenter maximum time to 

prepare and submit a response, ensures 

timely receipt by HUD, and enables 

HUD to make comments immediately 

available to the public. Comments 

submitted electronically through the 

http://www.regulations.gov website 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 notice. 

No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile 

(FAX) comments are not acceptable. 

Public Inspection of Public 

Comments. All comments and 

communications properly 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). 

HUD welcomes and is prepared to 

receive calls from individuals who are 

deaf or hard of hearing, as well as from 

individuals with speech or 

communication disabilities. To learn 

more about how to make an accessible 

telephone call, please visit https://

www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/ 

telecommunications-relay-service-trs. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Todd Richardson, General Deputy 

Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy 

Development and Research, Department 

of Housing and Urban Development, 

451 7th Street SW, Room 8100, 

Washington, DC 20410–0500; telephone 

number 202–402–5706 (this is not a tollfree number). HUD welcomes and is 

prepared to receive calls from 

individuals who are deaf or hard of 

hearing, as well as individuals with 

speech or communication disabilities. 

To learn more about how to make an 

accessible telephone call, please visit 

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/ 

telecommunications-relay-service-trs. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
106552 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Notices 

I. Background 

Homeowners and housing providers 

have experienced significant increases 

in property insurance premiums and 

deductibles in the past several years, 

along with reductions in insurance 

coverage, added requirements, and 

withdrawals of insurance companies 

from certain markets. Increased 

insurance costs and the unavailability of 

coverage are negatively impacting 

HUD’s program participants, including 

public housing authorities (PHAs), 

multifamily property owners, and Tribal 

communities, as well as borrowers of 

FHA insured mortgages. In July 2024, 

HUD convened an insurance summit to 

address challenges in the property 

insurance market. The insurance 

summit highlighted the need to increase 

property resilience to natural hazards, 

including extreme weather, and to 

clarify the relationship between 

resilience measures and costs to 

property owners, including the cost of 

insurance. 

Increasing insurance costs and lack of 

insurance availability pose unique 

challenges to HUD’s program 

participants. Unlike owners who 

provide market-rate housing, affordable 

housing providers generally cannot pass 

their insurance cost increases on to 

tenants through increased rents. 

Currently, some affordable housing 

properties faced with suddenly higher 

insurance costs report that they are 

coping in short-term ways, including 

reducing insurance coverage or cutting 

back on providing services or amenities 

to cut costs. Owners and PHAs have 

also reported that they may have to 

resort to delaying capital repairs or 

consider the sale of properties and 

further consolidation of their portfolios. 

Additionally, financing deals for the 

development of new properties are 

becoming more difficult to pencil out or 

close. 

Difficulty obtaining sufficient 

insurance coverage at a reasonable price 

also affects both new and existing FHA 

borrowers in all property types, 

including site-built single family, 

manufactured housing, and multifamily 

housing. For existing FHA borrowers, 

rising insurance costs increase monthly 

housing expenses, causing financial 

stress on the borrower and affecting 

their ability to maintain monthly 

mortgage payments. Some cash-strapped 

borrowers resort to canceling their 

insurance policies, taking them out of 

compliance with mortgage requirements 

and potentially affecting their ability to 

receive federal assistance in the case of 

a disaster. In many instances, 

companies simply are not renewing 

existing insurance policies, leaving 

consumers searching for new, and often 

more expensive, policies that often 

provide less coverage. Additionally, the 

lack of affordable and available 

insurance coverage can also make it 

more challenging for individuals to sell 

their home. For potential borrowers, 

increasing insurance costs may limit 

affordable housing options or 

participation in the market altogether. 

These challenges are occurring at the 

same time the nation faces a housing 

supply shortage, and they could further 

decrease housing affordability and 

availability across the nation. 

Improving resilience measures for 

properties can reduce their damage from 

natural disasters and extreme weather, 

and, therefore, reduce costs to insurers. 

HUD’s insurance summit highlighted 

examples of state programs such as 

those in Alabama and Louisiana 

connecting resilience standards to 

reduced insurance costs. Following the 

summit, HUD is releasing this RFI to 

better understand the challenges facing 

property owners and determine what 

more HUD can be doing to promote and 

encourage resilience investments in 

communities and reduced insurance 

costs for property owners. 

II. Purpose of This Request for 

Information 

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit 

information regarding resilience 

measures to mitigate damage from 

natural hazards, including extreme 

weather, to allow HUD to develop 

policies that better support HUD’s 

program participants in increasing 

resilience and their ability to access 

affordable insurance coverage for their 

properties. 

III. Specific Information Requested 

While HUD welcomes all comments 

relevant to increasing resilience of HUDsupported housing and reducing 

insurance costs, HUD is particularly 

interested in receiving input from 

interested parties on the questions 

outlined below. 

Single Family and Multifamily Housing, 

Public Housing and Insurance Risk 

Pools 

Question for comment #1: What are 

the financial savings (e.g., insurance 

premiums or avoided casualty loss) and 

other benefits associated with 

modifications to existing single family 

or multifamily properties, including 

public housing, to mitigate damage from 

natural hazards or increase resilience in 

the event of a natural hazard? How do 

these savings compare to the costs 

associated with those modifications? 

Please list modifications and each of 

their damage mitigation benefits as well 

as financial and time costs. Distinguish 

by peril type (earthquake, hurricane, 

floods, hail, drought, wildfire, extreme 

heat, landslide, etc.) or geography as 

appropriate, as well as by building and 

construction type. 

Question for comment #2: What are 

the financial savings (e.g., insurance 

premiums or avoided casualty loss) and 

other benefits associated with building 

new construction properties with 

building and design features that 

mitigate damage from natural hazards or 

increase resilience in the event of a 

natural hazard? How do these savings 

compare to the costs associated with 

those features? Please list building and 

design features and each of their damage 

mitigation benefits as well as financial 

and time costs. Distinguish by peril type 

(earthquake, hurricane, floods, hail, 

drought, wildfire, extreme heat, 

landslide, etc.) or geography as 

appropriate, as well as by building and 

construction type. 

Question for comment #3: What data 

exist around the additional time or 

financial costs, if any, of rebuilding to 

or above code post-disaster instead of 

waiving requirements? Is there 

information on the longer-term costs 

(e.g., financial or damage-related) 

related to waiving building 

requirements when rebuilding postdisaster? 

Question for comment #4: Are there 

local or state statutes, regulations, or 

incentives that help property owners 

reduce costs or save on expenses, 

including insurance costs, when they 

invest in resilience (e.g., reduced 

insurance premiums, tax abatements, 

subsidies/discounts)? If possible, please 

provide data on how successful these 

measures have been in saving on 

expenses. 

Question for comment #5: Please 

identify any industry standards related 

to resilience that you have used or 

referenced in your work. If possible, 

please document where the standard 

has been applied, at what scale, and to 

what effect. 

Question for comment #6: Are there 

local, state, or regional outreach or 

education efforts that have been 

successful in helping homeowners and 

housing providers understand the direct 

and indirect benefits of investing in 

resilience measures? 

Question for comment #7: What data 

would be useful for insurers (including 

risk pools) and reinsurers on efforts to 

mitigate damage from natural hazards or 

increase resilience to natural hazards, 

such as housing elevations, home 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Notices 106553 

resilience upgrades, and infrastructure 

improvements? 

Tribal Communities 

Question for comment #8: What 

unique challenges do Tribal 

communities face when implementing 

housing resilience measures? How can 

HUD support Tribal communities in 

addressing these challenges? 

Question for comment #9: What 

partnerships between Tribal 

governments, local authorities, and 

other organizations exist to enhance 

housing resilience on Tribal lands? Are 

there ways in which these partnerships 

can be expanded or improved? Please 

explain and provide specific 

recommendations, successes, and 

challenges as well as any supporting 

data as applicable. 

Question for comment #10: How can 

Tribes or organizations in remote 

locations with limited options for 

resilience investments better access or 

incorporate resilience strategies, 

resources, or methods? What resources 

can HUD provide in partnership with 

groups in these areas? 

Question for comment #11: What 

Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous 

Knowledge about building practices can 

be integrated with modern resilience 

measures in tribal communities? Please 

explain and provide specific 

recommendations, as well as any 

supporting data. 

Manufactured Housing 

Question for comment #12: In 

addition to addressing manufactured 

housing in the above questions where 

relevant, how else can manufactured 

home resilience be enhanced during all 

types of natural disasters (e.g., 

hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, 

wildfires, or tornadoes)? Please provide 

relevant research as well as any 

supporting data as applicable. 

Solomon Greene, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30936 Filed 12–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Geological Survey 

[GX25GK009970000] 

Public Meetings of the Advisory 

Committee on Landslides 

AGENCY: Geological Survey, Department 

of the Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of public meetings. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA) of 1972, the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS) is publishing this notice 

to announce that Federal Advisory 

Committee meetings of the Advisory 

Committee on Landslides (ACL) will 

take place and are open to members of 

the public. 

DATES: 

Meeting: The ACL will meet via web 

conference on Thursday, January 16, 

2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. 

Eastern Standard Time.; and in-person 

on Tuesday, April 1, 2025, from 9:00 

a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Wednesday, April 

2, 2025, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

Eastern Standard Time. 

Registration: Registration to attend or 

participate in the meetings is required. 

To register, please contact the 

Designated Federal Officer (DFO) (see 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

ADDRESSES: The meeting on January 16, 

2025, will be held via web conference. 

Meetings on April 1, 2025, and April 2, 

2025, will be held in the Stewart Lee 

Udall Department of the Interior 

Building, 1849 C Street NW, 

Washington, District of Columbia, 

20240. Members of the public may 

attend the meeting in-person or can 

attend via web conference. Please note 

admittance instructions under the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this notice. Comments can be sent to the 

DFO (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jonathan Godt, Landslide Hazards 

Program Coordinator, Geological 

Hazards Science Center, USGS, by email 

at jgodt@usgs.gov; or by telephone at 

(303) 905–9468. 

Individuals in the United States who 

are deaf, blind, hard of hearing, or have 

a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, 

TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 

telecommunications relay services. 

Individuals outside of the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

meeting is being held under the 

provisions of the FACA of 1972 (5 

U.S.C. ch. 10), the Government in the 

Sunshine Act of 1976 (5 U.S.C. 552b, as 

amended), and 41 CFR part 102–3. 

The ACL is composed of no fewer 

than 11 members, appointed by the 

Secretary of the Interior, who are 

selected for their established 

qualifications in landslide hazard and 

risk or related fields, records of 

distinguished service in their 

professional community, knowledge of 

issues affecting the National Landslide 

Hazards Reduction Program (NLHRP), 

and to represent a cross-section of views 

and expertise, including a range of 

geographies and communities impacted 

by landslide hazards in the United 

States. 

Purpose of the Meeting: The ACL 

provides advice and recommendations 

to the Secretary of the Interior through 

the Interagency Coordinating Committee 

on Landslide Hazards on 

implementation of NLHRP. Additional 

information about the ACL is available 

at Advisory Committee on Landslides 

(ACL) | U.S. Geological Survey. 

The purpose of the meetings is for the 

ACL to establish its business; complete 

required ethics and FACA briefings; 

receive an overview of the USGS, the 

USGS Landslide Hazards Program, and 

the National Landslide Preparedness 

Act (Pub. L. 116–323); consider 

appointments of a Chair and Vice-Chair; 

and discuss agency activities under the 

NLHRP. Agendas may change to 

accommodate ACL business. Final 

agendas will be posted on the ACL 

website at Advisory Committee on 

Landslides (ACL) | U.S. Geological 

Survey. 

Members of the public wishing to 

participate in the web conference 

meeting should contact the DFO (see 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONACT) at 

least three (3) business days prior to the 

meeting. After pre-registering, 

participants will be provided with 

instructions on how to join via web 

conference. Any member of the public 

wishing to attend the in-person meeting 

in person must pre-register to be 

admitted into the building. Please 

contact the DFO (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT) at least five (5) 

business days prior to the meeting. NonU.S. citizens may need to submit 

additional information. Seating for inperson attendees may be limited due to 

room capacity. Please note that federal 

agencies, including DOI, can only 

accept a state-issued driver’s license or 

identification card for access to federal 

facilities if such license or identification 

card is issued by a state that is 

compliant with the REAL ID Act of 2005 

(Pub. L. 109–13), or by a state that has 

an extension for REAL ID compliance. 

DOI currently accepts other forms of 

federal-issued identification in lieu of a 

state-issued driver’s license. For 

detailed information please email 

Jonathan Godt (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Meeting Accessibility/Special 

Accommodations: Please make requests 

in advance for sign language interpreter 

services, assistive listening devices, 

language translation services, or other 

reasonable accommodations. We ask 

that you contact the DFO (see FOR


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1