Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Building Permits Survey Program

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed extension of the surveys known as the Report of Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned Housing Units (C-404) and the Survey of Residential Building or Zoning Permit Systems (C-411), prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 189 (Thursday, October 1, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 189 (Thursday, October 1, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62465-62467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-20154]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Building Permits Survey Program

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the 
proposed extension of the surveys known as the Report of Building or 
Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned Housing Units (C-404) and 
the Survey of Residential Building or Zoning Permit Systems (C-411), 
prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to 
OMB for approval.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before November 30, 2026.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#460b2732322e2331680c681233252d23340625232835333568212930"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5914382d2d313c2e7713770d2c3a323c2b193a3c372a2c2a773e362f">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Please refer to the Building 
Permits Survey Program in the subject line of your comments. You may 
also submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2026-0694, to 
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. All 
comments received are part of the public record. No comments will be 
posted to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> for public viewing until after the 
comment period has closed. Comments will generally be posted without 
change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and 
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly 
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or 
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit 
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe 
PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to William

[[Page 62466]]

Abriatis, Branch Chief, Residential Construction Branch, 301-763-3686, 
and <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#76011f1a1a1f171b581b581714041f17021f053615131805030558111900"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7e09171212171f135013501f1c0c171f0a170d3e1d1b100d0b0d50191108">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Census Bureau plans to request an extension of the current 
Office of Management and Budget clearance for the Building Permits 
Survey Program. This program includes two surveys: the Survey of 
Residential Building or Zoning Permit Systems (C-411) and the Report of 
Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned Housing Units 
(C-404), also known as the Building Permits Survey (BPS). The C-411 and 
the C-404 are related collections sharing the same universe called the 
Active Governments File (AGF). The C-411 is utilized to update the 
permit issuing status of all jurisdictions in the AGF. The C-404 is 
primarily used to collect both monthly and annual data on the number of 
new housing unit permits issued in permit issuing jurisdictions.
    The universe of permit-issuing places serves as the universe for 
the Building Permits Survey (BPS) and the sampling frame for the Survey 
of Construction (SOC). These two surveys provide widely used measures 
of construction activity, including the Principal Federal Economic 
Indicators: New Residential Construction (NRC) and New Residential 
Sales (NRS). For New Residential Construction, Form C-404 directly 
collects the data on the number of housing units authorized by building 
permits. The number of housing units authorized by building permits is 
also a key component used to estimate other data items in the NRC and 
NRS releases such as housing units started, housing units completed, 
and housing units sold. Additionally, building permits for new private 
housing units are a component of The Conference Board's Leading 
Economic Index.
    The Building Permits Survey is the only source of statistics on 
residential construction for states and smaller geographic areas. The 
Census Bureau uses the detailed geographic data collected from state 
and local officials on new residential construction authorized by 
building permits in the development of annual population estimates. 
These estimates are used by government agencies to allocate funding and 
other resources to local areas. Policymakers, planners, businesses, and 
others also use this data to monitor growth, plan for local services, 
and to develop production and marketing plans.
    The Census Bureau uses the C-411 survey, or individual questions 
from the survey as needed, to obtain information from state and local 
building permit and zoning officials to update the universe of permit-
issuing places. The questions pertain to the legal requirements for 
issuing building or zoning permits in local jurisdictions and gather 
information on items such as geographic coverage and types of 
construction for which permits are issued.
    The Census Bureau uses Form C-404 to collect information on changes 
to the geographic coverage of permit-issuing places, the number and 
valuation of new residential housing units authorized by building 
permits, and additional details on residential permits valued at $2 
million or more, including site address and type of building.

II. Method of Collection

Survey of Residential Building or Zoning Permit Systems (C-411)

    One of three versions of the survey is sent to a jurisdiction when 
the Census Bureau needs to verify whether a new permit system has been 
established or an existing one has changed. The selection is based on 
the length of time since the jurisdiction last verified their permit 
issuing status, or on information the Census Bureau obtains from a 
variety of sources including survey respondents, regional planning 
councils, and data from the Census Bureau's Geography Division on newly 
incorporated jurisdictions. Since 2024, reporting has been done 
primarily via standard online collection instrument (Centurion).
    There are three versions of the survey:
    <bullet> C-411(M) for municipalities where a new permit system may 
have been established.
    <bullet> C-411(C) for counties where new permit systems may have 
been established.
    <bullet> C-411(V) for verification of coverage for jurisdictions 
with existing permit systems.
    Prior to 2022, the universe of permit issuing places was updated 
every 10 years. Before each universe update, The C-411 survey was sent 
to approximately 20,000 jurisdictions that were designated in our 
records as non-permit-issuing jurisdictions or permit issuing 
jurisdictions that needed verification of coverage. In January 2023, 
the universe began to be updated annually, and more frequent updates 
are incorporated for non-permit issuing jurisdictions. As a result, the 
C-411 survey is sent to about 3,200 of the 20,000 jurisdictions that do 
not issue permits on an annual basis, prioritizing those that have not 
responded in at least five years.

Report of Building or Zoning Permits Issued for New Privately-Owned 
Housing Units (C-404)

    Respondents may submit their data via internet or a mailed or faxed 
form. Some respondents choose to report over the phone or to send 
proprietary files containing permit information in lieu of returning 
the form.
    The survey universe is comprised of approximately 20,000 local 
governments that issue building permits. Due to resource availability 
and the time required to complete the data review and analysis, the 
Census Bureau collects data from a selection of permit-issuing 
jurisdictions monthly, and the remainder of the jurisdictions annually. 
We collect this information monthly for approximately 8,600 permit-
issuing jurisdictions. We collect this information annually for the 
remaining 11,400 permit-issuing jurisdictions.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-0094.
    Form Number(s): C-404, C-411.
    Type of Review: Regular submission, Request for an Extension, 
without Change, of a Currently Approved Collection.
    Affected Public: State and Local governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: C-404--19,987; C-411--3,200.
    Estimated Time per Response: C-404--8 minutes for the approximately 
8,395 monthly respondents who report online, 23 minutes for the 
approximately 10,307 annual respondents who report via online or 
physical form. An additional 243 monthly respondents and 1,042 annual 
respondents choose to report by phone or by sending us custom files and 
printouts from their permit systems, which we estimate takes only 3 
minutes. C-411--15 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: C-404--17,581 hours; C-411--
800 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0. (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 131 and 182.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed

[[Page 62467]]

information collection is necessary for the proper functions of the 
Department, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the time and cost 
burden for this proposed collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) Minimize the reporting burden on those who are to respond, 
including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our 
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, 
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2026-20154 Filed 9-30-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P


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