Notice2022-28138
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 27, 2022
Issuing agencies
Treasury Department
Abstract
The U.S. Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The public is invited to submit comments on the collection(s) listed below.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79446-79447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28138]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection;
Comment Request; Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2)
AGENCY: Office of Recovery Programs, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment
on this continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. The public is invited to submit comments on the
collection(s) listed below.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before January 26, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Send comments regarding the burden estimate, or any other
aspect of the information collection, including suggestions for
reducing the burden, to Melody Braswell, Treasury PRA Clearance
Officer, 1750 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Suite 8142, Washington, DC 20220,
or email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c393918283b7b1a6a2b0b6b1baeda4acb5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a1f1f3e0e1d5d3c4c0d2d4d3d88fc6ced7">[email protected]</span></a>. Copies of submissions may be obtained
from Jeff Schroeder by emailing <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4b212e2d2d392e326538282339242e2f2e390b3f392e2a383e3932652c243d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8be1eeededf9eef2a5f8e8e3f9e4eeefeef9cbfff9eeeaf8fef9f2a5ece4fd">[email protected]</span></a> or
viewing the entire information collection request at <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov">www.reginfo.gov</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 11, 2021, the President signed the
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the ``Act'') into law. The Act
authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to disburse $21.55 billion of
Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) to States, the District of Columbia,
U.S. Territories, and certain local governments with more
[[Page 79447]]
than 200,000 residents (collectively, ``grantees'') to provide
financial assistance and housing stability services to eligible
households. Beginning on October 1, 2022, eligible ERA2 grantees that
have obligated 75% of the ERA2 funds allocated to them may also use
their remaining unobligated funds on other affordable rental housing
and eviction prevention activities, as defined by the Secretary,
serving very low-income families.
Title: Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA2).
OMB Control Number: 1505-0270.
Type of Review: Revision a previously approved collection.
Quarterly Reporting
Description
All ERA2 grantees must submit quarterly reports to Treasury
detailing their uses of funds to ensure their compliance with the ERA2
Award Terms, the Act, and other applicable requirements. To collect
this information, Treasury developed ERA2 quarterly report forms, the
accompanying bulk upload templates, and associated guidance. Grantees
are required to submit the quarterly reports electronically via
Treasury's portal. The current OMB control number for the ERA2
quarterly report forms will expire on December 30, 2022.
Treasury is requesting OMB's approval of additions to and an
extension of the ERA2 quarterly report data collection forms. The
proposed additions include new questions necessary to monitor the
grantees' uses of ERA2 funds to support affordable rental housing and
eviction prevention activities starting on October 1, 2022, as
authorized by the Act. The remainder of the report, which has been
previously approved by OMB, is unchanged.
All information collected through the quarterly reporting is
crucial to Treasury's effective monitoring of the ERA2 grantees'
compliance with the requirements of the ERA2 award.
Form: Interim Reports,\1\ ERA2 Quarterly Reports, Bulk Upload
Template, and Guidance.
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\1\ Treasury is not currently collecting interim reports but is
seeking approval of the documents in the event that they become
necessary again in the future. Accordingly, they are not accounted
for in the hourly burden calculations.
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Affected Public: States, Territories, and local governments who
received ERA2 awards.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 376.
Frequency of Response: Quarterly.
Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,504.
Estimated Time per Response: 30 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 45,120 hours.
Reallocation
Description
The Act requires Treasury to reallocate funds initially allocated,
but not yet paid, to eligible grantees, according to a procedure
established by Treasury. Pursuant to the reallocation procedure
Treasury has established, Treasury identifies funds subject to
reallocation on a quarterly basis and refers to them as ``excess
funds.'' To identify the eligible grantees interested in receiving
reallocated funds, Treasury solicits Request for Reallocation forms
through its ERA2 program portal, which capture the amount of each
grantee's request as well as information confirming that a requesting
grantee meets certain eligibility requirements, including the statutory
requirement that a grantee obligate at least 50% of its initial ERA2
allocation before receiving reallocated funds.
In addition to confirming grantees' eligibility to receive
reallocated funds, the reallocation forms on Treasury's ERA2 portal
allow Treasury to collect information needed to determine which
grantees to prioritize in the distribution of reallocated funds.
Treasury's prioritization calculation considers: whether potential
recipient grantees are located in the same state as transferor
grantees; potential recipient grantees' rate of expenditure; and
potential recipient grantees' jurisdictional needs. Pursuant to
Treasury's ERA2 program guidance, starting with reallocation based on
data as of June 30, 2022 (known as the Quarter 2 Assessment), Treasury
will also prioritize, among eligible grantees, those grantees that have
expended non-ERA funds, including State and Local Fiscal Recovery
Funds, for rental or utility assistance substantially similar to
eligible uses under ERA1 \2\ or ERA2 since the enactment of the ERA1
statute on December 27, 2020, in an amount exceeding 20% of their
initial ERA2 allocation. To receive this prioritization, a grantee must
submit to Treasury a certification of, among other things, the amount
of non-ERA funding expended on rental or utility assistance
substantially similar to eligible uses under ERA1 or ERA2, the sources
of these expenditures, and the number of households served. To
implement this prioritization system for the Quarter 2 Assessment and
subsequent reallocation cycles, Treasury has developed a form for its
reallocation portal to collect information needed to confirm that a
requesting eligible grantee is entitled to prioritization based on its
non-ERA expenditures.
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\2\ ``ERA1'' refers to the Emergency Rental Assistance program
authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Pub. L.
116-260, section 501, 134 Stat. 2069 (Dec. 27, 2020).
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In addition to the above-described reallocation process, some
grantees choose to voluntarily reallocate a portion of their ERA2
allocations to one or more eligible grantees. To that end, Treasury has
also developed, within its reallocation portal, a standard form that
grantees use to initiate voluntary reallocation. In accordance with
statutory requirements, a grantee may transfer up to 60% of its initial
ERA2 allocation.
OMB approved the usage of these various reallocation forms on June
16, 2022. Since then, Treasury has made de minimis changes accounting
for the passage of time and other program developments, none of which
substantively alter the forms.
Accordingly, the collection of the above-described information is
crucial to the reallocation process, which is a central component of
the ERA2 program.
Forms: Request for Voluntary Reallocation; Request for Reallocated
Funds; Request for Reallocated Funds--Voluntary; Non-ERA Expenditures
Report.
Affected Public: States, Territories and local governments who
received ERA2 awards.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 482.
Frequency of Response: Once.
Estimated Total Number of Annual Responses: 982.
Estimated Time per Response: Varies from 10-60 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 524.4 hours.
Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
Melody Braswell,
Treasury PRA Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-28138 Filed 12-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-25-P
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