Emergency Justification Memo

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

TO:

Alex Goodenough, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

FROM:

Ryan Law, Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Privacy, Transparency, and Records

SUBJECT:

Robert D.
Faber

Digitally signed by Robert D. Faber
Date: 2021.04.20 17:36:39 -04'00'

Director RIM on behalf of DASPTR

Justification for Emergency Processing: Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA)
Interim Reporting Guidance

Pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 C.F.R.
§ 1320.13, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) requests emergency processing for an
Emergency Rental Assistance program information collection request, revising OMB Control
number 1505-0266.
On December 27, 2020, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the
“Act”). Division N, Title V, Section 501(a)(1) of the Act provides $25 billion for the U.S.
Department of the Treasury (Treasury) to make payments to States (defined to include the
District of Columbia), U.S. Territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern
Mariana Islands, and American Samoa), Indian tribes or tribally designated housing entities, as
applicable, the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, and certain local governments with more
than 200,000 residents (collectively the “eligible grantees”) to provide financial assistance and
housing stability services to eligible households.
Treasury is seeking approval for the interim report and the interim reporting requirements for
ERA grantees to submit summary information on their utilization of ERA award funds to date to
fulfill Treasury’s statutory reporting requirements and to effectively monitor the ERA grantees’
compliance with the requirements of the ERA award. The interim report would contain
information on ERA grantees’ programmatic and financial activity from January 1, 2021 through
March 31, 2021.
Due to the need to prepare quarterly reports expeditiously as required by statute, Treasury
requests emergency processing and approval of the interim report and guidance by April 20,
2021 in order to make the interim report and guidance available on April 21, 2021 for ERA
grantees’ use. This collection is essential to Treasury’s mission. It is not practicable for Treasury
to consult with interested agencies and members of the public in such a short timeframe. As
such, Treasury requests a waiver from the requirement to publish notice in the Federal Register.