Notice2023-14634
Improving Access to Public Benefit Programs; Request for Comment
Primary source
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Published
July 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
Housing and Urban Development Department
Abstract
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking comments from the public regarding the burden faced when applying for or maintaining eligibility for HUD's housing programs. HUD recognizes that these administrative hurdles and paperwork burdens disproportionately fall on the most vulnerable populations and prevent individuals and entities from accessing benefits for which they are legally eligible. Public comment submitted in response to this request for comment will assist HUD in better understanding, identifying, and reducing HUD's public program administrative burden and ultimately further its mission to pursue transformative housing and community- building policies and programs.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 133 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 133 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44813-44815]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14634]
[[Page 44813]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-6381-N-01]
Improving Access to Public Benefit Programs; Request for Comment
AGENCY: Office of Policy Development and Research, Department of
Housing and Urban Development, HUD.
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking
comments from the public regarding the burden faced when applying for
or maintaining eligibility for HUD's housing programs. HUD recognizes
that these administrative hurdles and paperwork burdens
disproportionately fall on the most vulnerable populations and prevent
individuals and entities from accessing benefits for which they are
legally eligible. Public comment submitted in response to this request
for comment will assist HUD in better understanding, identifying, and
reducing HUD's public program administrative burden and ultimately
further its mission to pursue transformative housing and community-
building policies and programs.
DATES: Comment Due Date: August 14, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments responsive
to this request for comment. There are three methods for submitting
public comments. All submissions must refer to the above docket number
and title.
1. Electronic Submission of Comments. Comments may be submitted
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit
comments electronically through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. 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 comments immediately available to the public. Comments submitted
electronically through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> can be viewed by other
commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should
follow the instructions provided on that website to submit comments
electronically.
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.
3. Submission of Comments by Electronic Mail. Comments may be
submitted by electronic mail to the Regulations Division, Office of
General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8fe6e2fffde0f9e6e1e8eeececeafcfcfbe0fffaede3e6ecedeae1eae9e6fbfffde0e8fdeee2fccfe7faeba1e8e0f9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f59c9885879a839c9b92949696908686819a858097999c9697909b90939c8185879a9287949886b59d8091db929a83">[email protected]</span></a>.
Note: To receive consideration as a public comment, comments must
be submitted through one of the three methods specified above.
Public Inspection of Public Comments. Copies of all comments
submitted will be available for inspection and downloading at
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. HUD will also make all properly submitted comments
and communications available for public inspection and copying during
regular business hours at the above address. Due to security measures
at the HUD Headquarters building, you must schedule an appointment in
advance to review the public comments 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 individuals with speech or communication
disabilities. To learn more about how to make an accessible telephone
call, please visit <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>. Copies of all comments submitted
are available for inspection and downloading at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>.
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, telephone 202-402-5706 (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 individuals
with speech or communication disabilities. To learn more about how to
make an accessible telephone call, please visit <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Applying for and maintaining eligibility for public benefits and
services, including housing programs, often requires completing and
submitting a variety of forms. HUD and its housing partners that
administer its programs (including Public Housing Authorities, State
and local governments, non-profit recipients of CDBG programs,
Multifamily Housing owners, and FHA lenders) use the information
collected by these forms to determine whether applicants are eligible
or if current recipients continue to be eligible. These forms and other
methods of information collections may create burdens that
disproportionately fall on the most vulnerable populations and prevent
individuals and entities from accessing services for which they are
legally eligible. These burdens include the expenditure of time,
effort, or financial resources to generate, maintain, or provide
information to HUD or its housing partners. For example, individuals
may be required to provide a list of family members, the family's total
annual family income, the assets available to each family member in the
household, and the value of such assets in order to access public
housing. Individuals applying for or maintaining eligibility for public
benefits or services may also face burdens such as time spent gathering
records and documentation needed to prove eligibility, travel time
associated with developing and submitting the collection, or even time
waiting to speak with agency personnel.
Consistent with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),\1\
agencies must ensure that both the quantitative burden estimates and
the narrative description supporting its information collection
requests reflect the beginning-to-end experience of completing the
information collection activity. Specifically, the burden faced by
individuals applying for and maintaining eligibility for public
benefits should also include:
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\1\ Public Law 104-13 (1995) (codified at 44 U.S.C. 3501-3520).
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--Information and learning costs, which refer to the time, effort,
money, and other resources that individuals need to expend to learn
about the existence of a public service or benefit, rules governing
their eligibility and application, certification, benefits maintenance,
and post-award reporting or recertification processes.
--Compliance costs, which refer to the time, effort, money, and
other resources that individuals need to expend to follow through with
program application, certification, or recertification, including
filling out necessary paperwork, waiting for correspondence from
program agencies, planning for in-person meetings, and producing
documentation to confirm their eligibility (for instance, records of
household composition, income, or assets).
[[Page 44814]]
--Psychological costs, which refer to the cognitive load,
discomfort, stress, anxiety, distrust, or loss of autonomy or dignity
that individuals may experience as a result of attempting to access a
public benefit or service.
--Redemption costs, which refer to the time, effort, money, and
other resources that individuals need to expend to use public benefits
or services where beneficiaries or participants must navigate third-
party agents or vendors.
Every step in applying for or maintaining eligibility for public
benefits represents a burden that could result in individuals or
entities justifiably becoming too discouraged to complete the process
and thus not receiving public benefits for which they are legally
eligible.
II. Improving Access to Public Benefits Programs Through the Paperwork
Reduction Act (OMB M-22-10)
On April 13, 2022, OMB issued a memorandum entitled, ``Improving
Access to Public Benefits Programs Through the Paperwork Reduction
Act'' (OMB M-22-10),\2\ to assist Federal agencies to, among other
things, reduce administrative burdens on individuals when accessing
public benefits programs.\3\ OMB M-22-10 discusses how the process of
understanding, completing, and submitting forms associated with public
benefits can impose burdens on potential beneficiaries ``that could
result in individuals or entities justifiably becoming too discouraged
to complete the process and thus not receiving public benefits for
which they are legally eligible.'' OMB M-22-10 recognizes that burdens
that seem minor when designing and implementing a program can have
substantial negative effects for individuals already facing
scarcity.\4\
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\2\ Available at <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/M-22-10.pdf">https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/M-22-10.pdf</a>.
\3\ As used in OMB M-22-10, ``public benefits programs'' is
construed widely to include social welfare programs; social
insurance programs; tax credits; and other cash, loan, or in-kind
assistance, particularly those intended to support in-need
individuals or communities.
\4\ See, e.g., Office of Management and Budget, Study to
Identify Methods to Assess Equity: Report to the President (July
2021), available at <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/OMB-Report-on-E013985-Implementation_508-Compliant-Secure-v1.1.pdf">https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/OMB-Report-on-E013985-Implementation_508-Compliant-Secure-v1.1.pdf</a>.
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Through Federal agencies' PRA processes, OMB M-22-10 encourages
agencies to (1) more completely and transparently articulate burdens
experienced by the public when accessing public benefits programs and
(2) use that analysis to minimize Federal information collection
burdens, with particular emphasis on those individuals and entities
most adversely affected by these burdens, particularly for historically
underserved communities. OMB M-22-10 also calls on Federal agencies to
emphasize systematic, rather than one-off, public program
administrative burden reduction initiatives, including reviewing if
every burden identified in an information collection request is
strictly necessary under the relevant authorizing statute or program
implementation regulation.
III. Purpose of This Request for Comment
HUD's overarching goal is to pursue transformative housing and
community-building policy and programs. To accomplish this goal and
continue its efforts to reduce administrative burden, improve the
customer experience for individuals seeking and receiving HUD services,
and actively solicit input of program beneficiaries, HUD is soliciting
comment to better understand, identify, and reduce the public program
administrative burdens imposed through HUD's forms and other
information collections that are experienced by members of the public
who are entitled to benefits through one or more HUD public benefits
programs.\5\ While certain HUD programs impose administrative burdens
directly from HUD onto members of the public, much of HUD's work
involves providing funding to State, local, or Tribal governments,
grant recipients, nonprofits, businesses, or other entities that then
provide a benefit to eligible members of the public through a program
or service, often with the requirement that information be collected to
satisfy HUD program compliance requirements in addition to their own
and those of other Federal agencies. Given that HUD commonly provides
funding for benefits but does not directly administer the programs or
services to the public, HUD also invites public input relating to how
HUD can reduce its program compliance information collection
requirements for administrators of HUD funding, as well as how HUD
might encourage administrators of HUD-funded programs or services to
reduce their own public program administrative burden. HUD's specific
questions regarding better understanding, identifying, and reducing
public program administrative burdens are provided in the following
section.
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\5\ As used in this request for comment, ``HUD public benefits
programs'' refers generally to any HUD program or service that
benefits eligible members of the public.
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IV. Specific Information Requested
While HUD welcomes all comments relevant to better understanding,
identifying, and reducing the public program administrative burdens
relating to HUD public benefits programs, HUD is particularly
interested in receiving input on the questions listed below. To assist
commenters, HUD provides the following guidance:
What do we mean by ``form''?
When we ask the questions about ``forms'' we mean both paper forms
as well as online or electronic forms such as web applications. This
includes situations where you may verbally provide your responses
instead of physically completing a form, such as through an in-person
or phone-based interview. HUD is interested in forms produced directly
by HUD as well as forms that are created by HUD program administrators
(e.g., Public Housing Authorities, State and local governments, non-
profit recipients of CDBG and CDBG-DR programs, Multifamily Housing
owners, FHA lenders, Continuums of Care) that are, at least in part,
implementing HUD requirements.
What types of experiences with forms are we interested in learning
about and what is helpful information to provide?
HUD is interested in hearing about your experiences related to
applying for or accessing HUD programs and services as well as
experiences related to maintaining eligibility for those services,
which might include activities like ongoing reporting requirements or
recertification activities. While HUD is interested in input from all
commenters, comments from organizations that provide direct assistance
to individuals navigating application, reporting, and recertification
processes, as well as individuals' direct experience completing and
submitting forms, may be particularly helpful in identifying both
unduly burdensome processes as well as opportunities for mitigating
those burdens.
HUD is interested in understanding circumstances regarding burdens
associated with completing or submitting a form or set of forms as well
as suggestions for where there are opportunities for improving the form
or experience by improving the requirements, phrasing, design, or
associated processes with the form. To your best ability, please
describe in detail what makes specific forms burdensome or difficult to
you, your
[[Page 44815]]
organization, or your organization's clients. If you are able, please
identify the name of the form, the form number, or provide a link to
where the form is hosted.
When providing comments, please indicate the specific question
number to which you are responding.
1. How can HUD reduce its public program administrative burden
across HUD's public benefits programs? Specifically, is there
information currently being collected by HUD or HUD program
administrators (e.g., Public Housing Authorities, State and local
governments, non-profit recipients of CDBG programs, Multifamily
Housing owners, FHA lenders) that have no apparent use or benefit or
can be streamlined? Additional prompts commenters' may wish to consider
when developing their response to this question:
a. Are there eligibility requirements or questions on a form for a
specific benefit or program that are particularly difficult to
understand, respond to effectively, demonstrate initial compliance
with, or maintain compliance with?
b. Does the form include documentation requirements that could be
made simpler, less frequent, or more helpful or flexible to meet the
ability of respondents to gather the documentation?
c. Does completing the form involve multiple touchpoints with
either agency or third-party personnel, such as through calls to help
lines, in-person visits or consultations, or solicitation of help from
other non-profit, legal aid, private legal counsel, or social service
agencies?
d. Are there significant discrepancies in how certain forms are
implemented across States, localities, housing authorities, or other
HUD program administrators responsible for collecting this information?
Could HUD provide more standardized or template form or web application
tools to reduce the need for non-Federal program administrators to
develop their own forms or web applications?
e. Are there specific challenges that persons with physical,
speech, other communication-related, or other disabilities face in
these processes that HUD should further address? What strategies or
tools might succeed in reducing burden for these groups?
f. Are there specific challenges that persons with limited English
proficiency (LEP) face in these processes that HUD should further
address? What strategies or tools might succeed in reducing burden for
these groups?
g. What specific challenges or barriers are experienced by other
vulnerable sub-populations that may prevent individuals and entities
from accessing benefits for which they are eligible? What strategies or
tools might succeed in reducing burden for these groups?
2. Are there data currently collected by HUD or HUD program
administrators that could be shared with other agencies or program
administrators to reduce the information collection burden of those
programs? Are there data currently collected by other programs or
agencies that if shared with HUD or HUD's program administrators could
reduce the information collection burden of HUD's programs? When
responding, please be specific about HUD and other agency programs,
including the form(s) used by HUD or the other agency and the specific
data collected that could be leveraged.
3. Are there data collected by HUD that are not currently
aggregated and shared publicly that should be aggregated and shared
publicly to increase the value of those data being collected? Please be
specific about which data, the form number on which it is collected,
and how HUD might aggregate the data to be useful for the public.
4. How can HUD use artificial intelligence, machine learning, or
other advanced data science tools to automate, augment, or otherwise
streamline its various information collections and the processes they
support? Please identify which collections or processes could be
improved using these tools; how advanced data science tools could help
to complete these forms or processes more quickly and without
sacrificing accuracy or security or perpetuating bias against certain
populations; and any estimated time or cost savings that could result
from these improvements. Potential responses could include but are not
limited to processes related to development approval, processing of
multifamily mortgage insurance applications, and reviews of
applications submitted in response to notices of funding opportunities.
5. Please provide any other input relating to how HUD can better
understand, identify, and reduce the public program administrative
burden associated with HUD's public benefits programs, including how
HUD might better use technology to support data collection and data
sharing.
Todd Richardson,
General Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy Development and
Research.
[FR Doc. 2023-14634 Filed 7-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P
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