Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB Additional On-Site Data Collection for the Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrative Fee Study

The proposed information collection requirement described below has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal. This request is for the clearance of on-site data collection from public housing agencies (PHAs). The purpose of the proposed data collection is to identify a sample of PHAs that are verified to be operating high-performing and efficient HCV programs. The proposed data collection will take place through site visits to up to 30 PHAs and will include interviews with PHA staff and reviews of client files and administrative data collected by the PHA. The results of the site visits will be used to identify PHAs to participate in a national study of administrative fees in the HCV program. The national study of administrative fees will include 50 PHAs, some of which have already been identified through site visits that took place at 60 PHAs between April and September 2011. The current request is to conduct similar data collection at a new group of PHAs to supplement the national study sample. The results of the national study--for which separate OMB clearance will be sought--will be used to estimate administrative fees and develop a new administrative fee allocation formula for the HCV program.