82 FR 49411 - 30 Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment on the: Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Service Coordinator (ROSS-SC) Program Evaluation

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 205 (October 25, 2017)

HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection described below. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 30 days of public comment.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49411-49413]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-23188]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-5997-N-66]


30 Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public 
Comment on the: Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Service 
Coordinator (ROSS-SC) Program Evaluation

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for the information collection described below. In 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, HUD is requesting comment 
from all interested parties on the proposed collection of information. 
The purpose of this notice is to allow for 30 days of public comment.

DATES: Comments Due Date: November 24, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding 
this proposal. Comments should refer to the proposal by name and/or OMB 
Control Number and should be sent to: HUD Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 
20503; fax: 202-395-5806, Email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anna P. Guido, Reports Management 
Officer, QDAM, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th 
Street SW., Washington, DC 20410; email Anna Guido at 
[email protected] or telephone 202-402-5535. Persons with hearing or 
speech impairments may access this number through TTY by calling the 
toll-free Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. This is not a toll-
free number. Copies of available documents submitted to OMB may be 
obtained from Ms. Guido.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice informs the public that HUD has 
submitted to OMB a request for approval of the information collection 
described in Section A. The Federal Register notice that solicited 
public comment on the information collection for a Period of 60 days 
was published on January 9, 2017 at 82 FR 2390.

A. Overview of Information Collection

    Title of Information Collection: Resident Opportunity and Self-
Sufficiency Service Coordinator (ROSS-SC) Program Evaluation.
    OMB Approval Number: 2528-New.
    Type of Request: New.
    Form Number: No forms.
    Description of the need for the information and proposed use: HUD 
is conducting this study under contract with the Urban Institute and 
its subcontractors (EJP Consulting). The project is an evaluation of 
the Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency Service Coordinator 
(ROSS-SC) program operated by grantees across the country. It will 
include a national web-based survey and in-person site visits to select 
grantees. Since 2008, the ROSS-SC program has provided information and 
referral for families, elderly, and disabled residents in public 
housing by funding local Service Coordinators to link residents to 
resources that they need to become independent and self-sufficient. The 
purpose of the program is to leverage existing local public and private 
services to increase income, reduce or eliminate welfare assistance, 
work towards economic independence and housing self-sufficiency, and 
improve living conditions and ability to age in-place for elderly and 
disabled residents. To date, there has been no HUD-funded evaluation of 
this program. A GAO study across several HUD self-sufficiency programs 
published in 2013 found that the ROSS-SC program lacked enough quality 
data on participation and outcomes ``to determine whether it was 
meeting goals of the effective and efficient use of resources'' in 
improving resident self-sufficiency and independence. They recommended 
improving the data reporting process and developing a strategy for 
regularly analyzing ROSS-SC participation and outcome data. This 
project helps implement GAO's recommendations by: (1) Assessing 
improvements in program processes and reporting since changes were made 
to the program's logic model in FY 2014; (2) examining the breadth and 
depth of ROSS-SC program implementation by current service coordinators 
across all grantee types; and (3) analyzing current reporting 
requirements and performance metrics to improve future program outcome 
evaluation. To do so, this study will use a full population survey of 
current service coordinators funded through ROSS-SC grants made in FY 
2013, FY 2014, and FY 2015, and site visits to select grantees.
    A web-based survey will allow the study team to investigate 
important Service Coordinator (SC) program characteristics not included 
in grant applications or current reporting tools, in order to provide 
generalizable evidence on the ``effective and efficient use of 
resources'' across all ROSS-SC service coordinators. These include SC 
qualifications and experience, program

[[Page 49412]]

management structure, resident intake and assessment processes, 
services offered, partnerships utilized and leveraged, and case 
management data systems and outcome evaluation tools used to track 
participant activities and outcomes. Since there is no centralized 
database of service coordinator contact information, this must first be 
obtained through a brief online survey sent to each grantee contact 
person.
    Site visits to seven high-performing grantees will include onsite 
observations and interviews with grantees, service coordinators, and 
program partners, as well as focus groups with program participants to 
gather context-specific data on both program processes and outcomes to 
aid in identifying best practices and common challenges across 
grantees.
    Respondents: For the survey, 330 grantee contact persons and 840 
service coordinators (assumes 70% response rate from total estimated 
population of 1200) at 7 grantee site visit locations, 56 staff and 
partners, and 107 public housing residents.
    Estimated total number of hours needed to prepare the information 
collection including number of respondents, frequency of response, 
hours of response, and cost of response time: Based on the below 
assumptions and tables, we calculate the total burden hours for this 
study to be 1,244.50 hours and the total cost to be $32,856.28.
    Whereas many ROSS-SC grantee contact persons in HUD's database are 
a PHA Executive Director, PHA Division Director, or the Chief Executive 
Officer of the grantee, we estimated their cost per response by using 
the most recent (May 2016) Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational 
Employment Statistics median hourly wage for the labor category, Chief 
Executives (11-1011): $87.12.
    Whereas ROSS-SC service coordinators and other grantee staff and 
service partners have a range of experience and skills, we averaged the 
median hourly wage for two labor categories: The Social and Community 
Service Manager (11-9151) median hourly wage of $31.10, and the 
Community and Social Service Specialists, All Other (21-1099) category 
with a rate of $20.73.
    This produces an average of both median hourly wage rates equal to 
$25.92.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                      Average
                                                                                   Median hourly     (median)
              Respondent                       Occupation            SOC code        wage rate      hourly wage
                                                                                                       rate
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grantee Contact Person................  Chief Executive.........         11-1011          $87.12          $87.12
ROSS Service Coordinator & Partners...  Social and Community             11-9151          $31.10          $25.92
                                         Services Manager.
                                        Community and Social             21-1099          $20.73  ..............
                                         Service Specialist, All
                                         Other.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Statistics (May 2016), https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_stru.htm

    Hourly costs for public housing resident focus group participants 
were estimated using FY 2016 HUD 30% Income Limit for All Areas 
calculations from the Office of Policy Development and Research through 
HUD's Web site located at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il16/index.html. This identifies income limits by county for extremely 
low income households earning at or below 30% of their county median 
income. These limits are adjusted by household sizes of up to eight 
household members. We averaged the county median values to produce a 
national average median income by household size for extremely low 
income households. Based on the ROSS-SC program emphasis on increasing 
family self-sufficiency, and independent living and aging in place for 
the elderly and disabled, we estimate that:
     20% of potential respondents will live alone (21 
respondents) with an average median income of $13,537.
     10% will reside in a 2-person household (11 respondents) 
with an average median income of $15,464.
     30% will reside in a 3-person household (31 respondents) 
with an average median income of $17,396.
     30% will reside in a 4-person household (31 respondents) 
with an average median income of $19,305.
     10% will reside in a 5-person household (11 respondents) 
with an average median income of $20,872.
    To produce a basic hourly rate, we divide the average median annual 
income amount by 2,080 work hours per year, equaling 40 hours per week 
for each of the 52 weeks out of the year.
    All assumptions are reflected in the table below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Number of     Frequency of     Burden hour    Annual burden    Hourly cost
                 Information collection                     respondents      response      per response        hours       per response     Total cost
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grantee Contact Person Survey...........................          330.00            1.00            0.25           82.50          $87.12       $7,187.40
Service Coordinators Survey.............................      \1\ 840.00            1.00            1.00          840.00           25.92       21,772.80
ROSS Site Visit--Staff and Partners.....................           56.00            1.00            2.00          112.00           25.92        2,903.04
HUD Residents living alone..............................           21.00            1.00            2.00           42.00            6.51          273.42
HUD Residents in 2-person household.....................           11.00            1.00            2.00           22.00            7.43          163.46
HUD Residents in 3-person household.....................           31.00            1.00            2.00           62.00            8.36          518.32
HUD Residents in 4-person household.....................           31.00            1.00            2.00           62.00            9.28          575.36
HUD Residents in 5-person household.....................           11.00            1.00            2.00           22.00           10.03          220.66
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................................        1,331.00  ..............  ..............        1,244.50  ..............       33,614.46
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The full population is estimated at 1,200 service coordinators. The number of respondents is based on anticipated response rate of 70%.

B. Solicitation of Public Comment

    This notice is soliciting comments from members of the public and 
affected parties concerning the collection of information described in 
Section A on the following:
    (1) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of

[[Page 49413]]

the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility;
    (2) The accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information;
    (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond; including through the use of appropriate 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.
    HUD encourages interested parties to submit comment in response to 
these questions.

C. Authority

    Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
Chapter 35.

    Dated: October 17, 2017.
Anna P. Guido,
Department Reports Management Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-23188 Filed 10-24-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4210-67-P