81 FR 38210 - Implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended New System of Records, Choice Neighborhoods Evaluation

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 113 (June 13, 2016)

Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)), as amended, notice is hereby given that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research provides public notice regarding its Choice Neighborhoods Evaluation System of Records. This evaluation will study HUD's Choice Neighborhoods program, which is intended to help people living in HUD- assisted housing developments and surrounding distressed neighborhoods improve their quality of life. This study will allow the Department to evaluate the benefits and impacts of the Choice Neighborhoods program, to determine whether it accomplishes its goals, and to inform policymaking decisions. The data sources covered in this notice are gathered from Federal, local, and private databases, and directly from individuals that the program intends to help. A more detailed description of the proposed requirements is contained in the purpose section of this notice.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 113 (Monday, June 13, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38210-38212]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-13942]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5921-N-07]


Implementation of the Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended New System 
of Records, Choice Neighborhoods Evaluation

AGENCY: Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD.

ACTION: New system of records notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)), as 
amended, notice is hereby given that the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research 
provides public notice regarding its Choice Neighborhoods Evaluation 
System of Records. This evaluation will study HUD's Choice 
Neighborhoods program, which is intended to help people living in HUD-
assisted housing developments and surrounding distressed neighborhoods 
improve their quality of life. This study will allow the Department to 
evaluate the benefits and impacts of the Choice Neighborhoods program, 
to determine whether it accomplishes its goals, and to inform 
policymaking decisions. The data sources covered in this notice are 
gathered from Federal, local, and private databases, and directly from 
individuals that the program intends to help. A more detailed 
description of the proposed requirements is contained in the purpose 
section of this notice.

DATES: Effective Date: The notice will be effective July 13, 2016, 
unless comments are received that would result in a contrary 
determination. [Comments due date]: July 13, 2016.

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. Communications should refer to the 
above docket number and title. Faxed comments are not accepted. A copy 
of each communication submitted will be available for public inspection 
and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frieda B. Edwards, Acting Chief 
Privacy Officer, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10139, Washington, DC 
20410, telephone number 202-402-6828 (this is not a toll-free number). 
Individuals who are hearing- and speech-impaired may access this number 
via TTY by calling the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a 
toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The new SORN will encompass data collected 
by the Department's Office of Policy Development and Research in order 
to evaluate the Choice Neighborhoods program. The Choice Neighborhoods 
program supports the implementation of plans that transform distressed 
HUD housing and address challenges impacting people living in 
surrounding distressed areas: Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, San 
Francisco, and Seattle. The new notice states the name and location of 
the record system, the authority for and manner of its operations, the 
categories of individuals that it covers, the type of records that it 
contains, the sources of the information for the records, the routine 
uses made of the records, and the types of exemptions in place for the 
records. The notice also includes the business address of the HUD 
officials who will inform interested persons of how they may gain 
access to and/or request amendments to records pertaining to 
themselves. Publication of this notice allows the Department to provide 
new information about its system of records notices in a clear and 
cohesive format. The Privacy Act places on Federal agencies principal 
responsibility for compliance with its provisions, by requiring Federal 
agencies to safeguard an individual's records against an invasion of 
personal privacy; protect the records contained in an agency system of 
records from unauthorized disclosure; ensure that the records collected 
are relevant, necessary, current, and collected only for their intended 
use; and adequately safeguard the records to prevent misuse of such 
information. In addition, this notice demonstrates the Department's 
focus on industry best practices and laws that protect interest such as 
personal privacy and privacy protect records from inappropriate 
release.
    Pursuant to the Privacy Act and the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) guidelines, a report of the amended system of records was 
submitted to OMB, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs, and the House Committee on Oversight and

[[Page 38211]]

Government Reform, as instructed by paragraph 4c of Appendix l to OMB 
Circular No. A-130, ``Federal Agencies Responsibilities for Maintaining 
Records About Individuals,'' November 28, 2000.

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

    Dated: May 10, 2016.
Patricia A. Hoban-Moore,
Senior Agency Official for Privacy.
SYSTEM OF RECORDS NO.:

PD&R/RRE.07

SYSTEM NAME:
    Choice Neighborhoods Evaluation.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20410; HUD Data Center, Charleston, West Virginia; 
Urban Institute, 2100 M Street NW., Washington, DC 20037, and at the 
location of the service providers under contract with HUD.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THIS SYSTEM:
    HUD program participants, and other residents (not assisted by HUD) 
living in Choice Neighborhoods program cities: Boston, Chicago, New 
Orleans, San Francisco, and Seattle.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The data sets will contain the following categories of records:
     Responses to baseline survey: Include participants name, 
date of birth, address, phone number, and email address, demographic 
data, economic characteristics, educational characteristics, health, 
subjective well-being, and information about the household member 
living environment, contact information of a family member or friend 
who could help locate the survey respondent in the future if they move, 
and unique study identifier assigned to the program participant.
     Responses to follow-up survey: Include participants name, 
date of birth, address, phone number, and email addresses, demographic 
data, economic characteristics, educational characteristics, health, 
subjective well-being, and information about the household member 
living environment, contact information of a family member or friend 
who could help locate the survey respondent in the future if they move. 
The follow-up survey will collect information very similar to the 
baseline survey, in order to show how the experience of Choice 
Neighborhoods residents has changed over time, and unique study 
identifier assigned to the program participant.
     Administrative data: Include data on households available 
through HUD administrative data, collections will be brought into the 
dataset directly from HUD's Inventory Management System, including 
information pertaining to the participating family structure, household 
size, household income, race and demographics, address, and 
participation in other HUD programs.
     Locational data: Include data such as the address and 
location of participating household. These data sets will be drawn from 
a variety of sources, including the National Change of Address 
database, proprietary databases such as Accurint, and directly from 
participating households.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Section 502(g) of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 
(Pub. L. 91-609) (12 U.S.C. 1701z-1; 1701z-2(d) and (g)).

PURPOSE(s):
    The purpose of the Choice Neighborhoods Evaluation is to track the 
effects of the Choice Neighborhoods program in the five cities: Boston, 
Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Seattle that received 
implementation grants in 2011. Choice Neighborhoods is meant to 
transform distressed neighborhoods, with a focus on HUD assisted 
developments (public housing or project-based section 8). This 
transformation is intended to help the people living in the targeted 
developments and surrounding distressed neighborhoods improve their 
quality of life. The evaluation will track the experiences of a 
statistical sample of individuals living in five Choice Neighborhoods 
sites, to determine whether the program improves their quality of life 
in a variety of dimensions, including employment, education, health, 
and subjective well-being. This analysis will inform HUD leadership, 
policymakers, and HUD partners that implement community development 
programs. The data collected for the Choice Neighborhood Evaluation 
will be used and stored solely for research purposes, and will not be 
used to identify individuals or make decisions that affect the rights, 
benefits, or privileges of specific individuals. The data in this 
system will include location data, which will be used to analyze the 
neighborhoods in which people affected by the initiative live. The data 
in the system will also include information about household 
composition, income, education, and many quality of life measures, 
which will be used to analyze the extent to which people's lives are 
being improved by the Choice Neighborhoods Program. The data in this 
system will be analyzed using statistical methods and only reported in 
the aggregate. Resulting reports will not disclose or identify any 
individuals or sensitive personal information. The Choice Neighborhoods 
Evaluation is in direct service of the mission of HUD's Office of 
Policy Development and Research, which is to ``inform policy 
development and implementation to improve life in American communities 
through conducting, supporting, and sharing research, surveys, 
demonstrations, program evaluations, and best practices.''

ROUTINE USE OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, HUD may disclose information contained in 
this system of records:
    (1) To a recipient who has provided the agency with advance, 
adequate written assurance that the record provided from this system of 
records will be used solely for statistical research or reporting 
purposes. Records under this condition will be disclosed or transferred 
in a form that does not identify an individual.
    (2) To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, Federal 
agencies, and non-Federal entities, including, but not limited to, 
State and local governments, and other research institutions or their 
parties, and entities and their agents with whom HUD has a contract, 
service agreement, grant, or cooperative agreement, when necessary to 
accomplish an agency function, related to this system of records for 
the purposes of statistical analysis and research in support of program 
operations, management, performance monitoring, evaluation, risk 
management, and policy development, or to otherwise support the 
Department's mission. Records under this routine use may not be used in 
whole or in part to make decisions that affect the rights, benefits or 
privileges of specific individuals. The results of the matched 
information may not be disclosed in identifiable form.
    (3) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
    (a) HUD suspects or has confirmed that the security or 
confidentiality of information in a system of records has been 
compromised;
    (b) HUD has determined that as a result of the suspected or 
confirmed compromise, there is a risk of harm to

[[Page 38212]]

economic or property interests, identity theft, or fraud, or harm to 
the security or integrity of systems or programs (whether maintained by 
HUD or another agency or entity) that rely upon the compromised 
information; and
    (c) The disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is 
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with HUD's efforts to 
respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, 
or remedy such harm for purposes of facilitating responses and 
remediation efforts in the event of a data breach.
    (4) Appropriate agencies, entities, and persons to the extent such 
disclosures are compatible with the purpose for which the records in 
this system were collected, as set forth by Appendix I, HUD's Routine 
Use Inventory notice \1\ published in the Federal Register.
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    \1\ http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=routine_use_inventory.pdf.
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POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    STORAGE: Records are stored on secure servers administered by HUD's 
Office of Policy Development and Research, and on secure servers 
administered by the Urban Institute under contract with HUD. There are 
no paper-based records associated with this study.
    RETRIEVABILITY: Records will be retrieved by a unique study 
identifier.
    SAFEGUARDS: Access to any server, security, storage, backup, and 
infrastructure equipment is monitored, restricted to only those with a 
need-to-have system access, including being secured by administrative 
password and authentication methods. All system users are required to 
sign a confidentiality pledge to abide by corporate policies and by HUD 
policies.
    RETENTION AND DISPOSAL: Records (Electronic data) files are 
maintained in accordance with HUD Records Disposition Schedule 67.9.b 
and 67.9.f.\2\ The records will be retained for a minimum of 10 years 
then archived. As such, when projects are satisfactorily closed and 
records are no longer needed for administrative purposes, the records 
will be destroyed when the destruction date is reached. Manual records 
are destroyed by shredding or burn; electronic records are destroyed in 
accordance with HUD's IT Security Handbook 2400.25, Section 4.7.6 \3\. 
Electronic records will be stored on HUD data servers in Charleston, 
WV.
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    \2\ http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=22256x67ADMH.pdf.
    \3\ http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=240025CIOH.pdf.
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SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    Director, Division of Program Evaluation, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, 451 
Seventh Street SW., Room 8120, Washington, DC 20410.

NOTIFICATION AND RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    For Information, assistance, or inquiries about the existence of 
records contact, Frieda B. Edwards, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, 451 
Seventh Street SW., Room 10139, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 
202-402-6828. When seeking records about yourself from this system of 
records or any other HUD system of records, your request must conform 
to the Privacy Act regulations set forth in 24 CFR part 16. You must 
first verify your identity by providing your full name, current 
address, and date and place of birth. You must sign your request, and 
your signature must either be notarized or submitted under 28 U.S.C. 
1746, a law that permits statements to be made under penalty of perjury 
as a substitute for notarization. In addition, your request should:
    a. Explain why you believe HUD would have information on you.
    b. Identify which office of HUD you believe has the records about 
you.
    c. Specify when you believe the records would have been created.
    d. Provide any other information that will help the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) staff determine which HUD office may have 
responsive records.

    If your request is seeking records pertaining to another living 
individual, you must obtain a statement from that individual certifying 
their agreement for you to access their records. Without the above 
information, the HUD FOIA office may not be able to conduct an 
effective search, and your request may be denied due to lack of 
specificity or lack of compliance with applicable regulations.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    The Department's rules for contesting contents of records and 
appealing initial denials appear in 24 CFR part 16.3, ``Procedures for 
inquiries.'' Additional assistance may be obtained by contacting Frieda 
B. Edwards, Acting Chief Privacy Officer, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 
2130, Washington, DC 20410, or the HUD Departmental Privacy Appeals 
Officer, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban 
Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10110, Washington, DC 20410.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    (1) Baseline survey, collected directly from individuals who have 
agreed to participate in the study, (2) follow up survey, collected 
directly from individuals who have agreed to participate in the study, 
(3) administrative data derived from HUD IMS system, and (4) Locational 
data from non-federal proprietary databases.

SYSTEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:
    None.
[FR Doc. 2016-13942 Filed 6-10-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4210-67-P