[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 191 (Monday, October 4, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61169-61171]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-24746]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[FR-5386-N-10]


Privacy Act; Notification of a New Privacy Act System of Records, 
Homeless Families Impact Study Data Files

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer HUD.

ACTION: Notification of a New Privacy Act System of Records (SORN).

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SUMMARY: HUD proposes to establish a new Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 
552a), SORN. The proposed new SORN is the Homeless Families Impact 
Study Data Files (HFISDF). The records system will be used by HUD's 
Office of Policy Development and Research to study the effects of 
housing and services interventions for homeless families. Refer to the 
``Objective'' caption to obtain detailed information about the purpose 
of this study.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 3, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, Office of General Counsel, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. 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 
8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. weekdays at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Robinson-Staton, Departmental 
Privacy Act Officer, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Room 2256, Washington, DC 
20410, Telephone Number (202) 402-8047. (This is not a toll-free 
number.) A telecommunication device for hearing-and speech-impaired 
individuals (TTY) is available at (800) 877-8339 (Federal Information 
Relay Service).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 
U.S.C. 552a), as amended notice is given that HUD proposes to establish 
a new SORN as identified as Housing Families Impact Study Data Files.
    Title 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (11) provide that the public be 
afforded a 30-day period in which to comment on the new system of 
records.
    The new system report was submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB), the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and the 
House Committee on Government Reform pursuant to paragraph 4c of 
Appendix 1 to OMB Circular No. A-130, ``Federal Responsibilities for 
Maintaining Records About Individuals,'' July 25, 1994 (59 FR 37914).

    Authority:  5 U.S.C. 552a 88 Stat. 1896; 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).

    Dated: September 15, 2010.
Jerry E. Williams,
Chief Information Officer.
HUD/PD&R-10

System name:
    Homeless Families Impact Study Data Files

System location:
    Homeless Families Impact Study Data Files are to be located at Abt 
Associates Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA; Abt Associates Inc., 
4550 Montgomery Avenue, Bethesda, MD; and the AT&T Datacenter, 15 
Enterprise Ave., Secaucus, NJ 07094.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Families enrolled in Homeless Families Impact Study.

Categories of records in the system:
    Name; Social Security Number; study identifier; birth date; contact 
information (home address, telephone numbers, e-mail address); 
demographic characteristics of the family head (e.g., race/ethnicity, 
gender, marital status); number of children and other adults in the 
household (a roster of adults and children with the family head at 
baseline and spouse/partner and children not with the family head at 
baseline, and characteristics of these family members); income sources 
and total family income; employment and earnings for the family head; 
health (behavioral health and physical health of the family head); 
substance use; foster care history for the family head; exposure to 
domestic violence; housing status prior to shelter entry; homelessness 
history; barriers to housing; homeless program participation; contact 
information for family and friends; and assigned study intervention, 
and study involvement information.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    Sec. 501, 502, Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 (Pub. L. 
91-609), 12 U.S.C. 1701z-1, 1701z-2.

Purpose:
    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is 
undertaking an evaluation of the Impacts of Housing and Services 
Interventions for Homeless Families to provide research evidence to 
help federal policymakers, community

[[Page 61170]]

planners, and local practitioners make sound decisions about the best 
ways to address homelessness among families. This study will compare 
four combinations of housing and service interventions for homeless 
families in a rigorous, multi-site experiment, to determine what 
interventions work best to promote family stability and well-being and, 
within the limits of statistical power, what sorts of families benefit 
most from each intervention. The interventions are: (1) Permanent 
housing subsidy without services (Subsidy Only); (2) Community-Based 
Rapid Re-housing (CBRR), consisting of temporary housing subsidy 
provided in conventional housing with limited supportive services; (3) 
temporary housing subsidy provided in facility-based housing with 
intensive services but no guarantee of a permanent subsidy (Project-
Based Transitional Housing-PBTH); and (4) shelter, with whatever 
services the shelter ordinarily provides to its residents and any other 
assistance available in the community (Usual Care). This study will 
also exploit naturally occurring variation in program features within 
these categories and across sites to explore, non-experimentally, what 
features of programs seem most responsible for success.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    [dec222] Authorized AbtSRBI researchers will collect the data from 
participating families and will match these primary study data with 
other datasets for tracking (e.g., matching with change of address 
databases) to track and locate families throughout the study and to 
manage the data collection process.
    [dec222] A limited number of authorized Abt researchers will access 
personally identifying information to link data from one phase of data 
collection to another or to match primary study data with other 
datasets for data collection purposes (e.g., matching with HUD's public 
housing dataset to measure housing receipt).
    [dec222] Authorized Abt researchers will also use the data for 
statistical analysis and to develop findings for this research study.
    [dec222] Authorized Abt researchers may use the data to create a 
public use file of non-identifiable data for disclosure to authorized 
researchers for other purposes. The Department suspects or has 
confirmed that the security or confidentiality of information in the 
system of records has been compromised; the Department has determined 
that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a 
risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity theft or 
fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other 
systems or programs (whether maintained by the HUD or another agency or 
entity) that rely upon the compromised information.
    [dec222] If the Department suspects or has confirmed that the 
security or confidentiality of information in the system of records has 
been compromised; or if the Department has determined that as a result 
of the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to 
economic or property interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the 
security or integrity of this system or other systems or programs 
(whether maintained by the HUD or another agency or entity) that rely 
upon the compromised information; than the disclosure made to such 
agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in 
connection with the HUD's efforts to respond to the suspected or 
confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    Each data user's permissions will be defined based on the user's 
role on the project. For example, the local site interviewer will be 
able to review data for study participants only for his or her own 
specific site.Study data will be aggregated or de-identified at the 
highest level possible for each required, authorized use.
    Abt Associates will not use or disclose the data for any purposes 
other than for the ``The Impacts of Housing and Services Interventions 
for Homeless Families'' study (``Homeless Families Study'') or related 
follow-up studies. Abt Associates will not disclose the data to 
additional parties without the written authority of the providing 
organization, except where required by law.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Safeguards:
    The following safeguards shall be used to secure data in storage, 
retrieval, during access, and disposal.
    [dec222] All personal data (identifiable and de-identified data 
analyses files) will be encrypted and maintained on a secure 
workstation or server that is protected by a firewall, complex 
passwords, and multi-authentication factors, in a directory that can 
only be accessed by the network administrators and the analysts 
actively working on the data.
    [dec222] Data on the secure server will be encrypted using an 
industry standard algorithm incorporating at least 128-bit encryption. 
The decryption key will only be known to analysts actively working with 
the data.
    [dec222] Separate data files will be maintained for each 
questionnaire and for identifying information. Data files used for 
analysis will be stored in a separate location from files with 
identifying information to minimize the risk that an unauthorized user 
could use the unique identification number to link de-identified files 
with the identifiers. The unique identification number will be 
protected through multi-mode authentication, in addition to encryption 
technologies.
    [dec222] Access rights to the data are granted to limited 
researchers on a need-to-know basis, and the level of access provided 
to each researcher is based on the minimal level required that 
individual to fulfill his research role.
    [dec222] Abt Associates will backup the data on a regular basis to 
safeguard against system failures or disasters. Only encrypted versions 
of the data will be copied to the backup media. Unencrypted data will 
never be stored on a laptop or on a movable media such as CDs, 
diskettes, or USB flash drives.
    [dec222] If an authorized researcher leaves employment or is no 
longer working on this project, their user ID and access will be 
terminated within one day, as will VPN access. These steps will be 
documented as part of termination process.
    [dec222] The site interviewers will securely store any hard copy 
documents with personal protected information, such as signed consent 
forms, tracking letters, or interview appointment schedules.
    Consent Forms. After the family signs the informed consent form, 
the site interviewers will seal the form in an envelope at the 
conclusion of the interview. Envelopes will be stored in a box in the 
trunk of the interviewer's car until the interviewer returns home. Once 
home, the interviewers will complete all necessary paperwork and will 
submit the completed surveys to the Abt Project Director via FedEx 
signature required.
    Tracking documentation. Each site interviewer must store any 
tracking letters, appointment schedules, or other documentation with 
personal protected information, such as name, in a locked cabinet that 
can only be accessed by the interviewer. Tracking documentation with 
personal protected information should not be generated until needed in 
the tracking process to limit risk of unauthorized disclosures. Site 
interviewers should use study IDs in lieu of personal protected 
information on tracking documentation whenever

[[Page 61171]]

feasible to limit risk of unauthorized disclosures.
    All hard copy forms with personal identifying data (the participant 
agreement/informed consent form) will be stored securely in a locked 
cabinet that can only be accessed by authorized individuals working on 
the data. The locked cabinet will be stored in a locked office in a 
limited-access building.
    Hard copy forms that are no longer needed for the study will be 
shredded. If site interviewers do not have access to a paper shredder, 
they will submit the paperwork to the Abt Project Director via FedEx 
with clear instructions to destroy the documents upon receipt.

Retrieving:
    The random assignment datafile within this system will include 
personal identifiers that can be used to locate records to update 
families' whereabouts or to verify if a family has already been 
enrolled in the study. Records within the random assignment datafile 
can be retrieved by name, social security number, study identification 
number, birthdate, or spouse name.
    After data collection is complete, researchers will use a dataset 
that is stripped of identifying information for all analyses, with the 
exception of a unique study identification number assigned to each 
participating family. The study identification number will be randomly 
generated at the time of random assignment and will be unrelated to 
personal information such as SSN, DOB, or name. The study identifier 
can be linked to the personal identifying information but only by a 
small number of central research staff at Abt Associates.

Retention and disposal:
    PII will be maintained only as long as required and only under 
conditions specified in the study protocol. Upon completion of all 
research for the Homeless Families study, Abt Associates will 
permanently destroy of all electronic personally-identifiable 
information on the working server using one of the methods described by 
the NIST SP 800-88.
    ``Guidelines for Media Sanitization'' (September 2006). Encrypted 
versions of the data may remain on backup media for a longer period of 
time, but will be similarly permanently destroyed.
    At the end of the contract, records that do not need to be retained 
will be shredded and the remainder of the files will be shredded after 
the three-year retention period required in the contract. The retention 
and disposal procedures are in keeping with HUD's records management 
policies as described in HUD Records Disposition Schedules (2225.6) 
Appendix 67.

System manager(s) and address:
    Carol Star, Director of the Program Evaluation Division, Office of 
Policy Development and Research, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410, Telephone 
Number (202) 402-6139.

Notification procedure:
    For information, assistance, or inquiry about existence or records, 
contact Donna Robinson-Stanton, Departmental Privacy Act Officer, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC, in accordance with the procedures in 24 CFR part 16.

Record access procedures:
    The Department's rules for providing access to records to the 
individual concerned appear in 24 CFR part 16. If additional 
information or assistance is required, contact the Privacy Act Officer 
at the appropriate location.

Contesting record procedures:
    The Department's rules for contesting the contents of records and 
appealing initial denials, by the individual concerned, appear in 24 
CFR part 16. If additional information or assistance is needed, it may 
be obtained by contacting:
    (i) In relation to contesting contents of records, the Departmental 
Privacy Act, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 
Street, SW., Room 2256, Washington, DC 20410.
    (ii) In relation to appeals of initial denials, the HUD 
Departmental Privacy Appeals Officers, Office of General Counsel, 
Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20410.

Record source categories:
    Original data collected directly from participating families, third 
party data for tracking purposes (e.g. National Change of Address 
database, credit bureaus), and administrative data on HUD's public 
housing programs.

Exemption from certain of provision of the Act:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2010-24746 Filed 10-1-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P