On March 11, 2021, the President signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the âActâ), Pub. L. No. 117-2. Title III, Subtitle B, Section 3201of the Act provides $21.55 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), and certain local governments with more than 200,000 residents (collectively the âeligible granteesâ) to provide financial assistance and housing stability services to eligible households, and cover the costs for other affordable rental housing and eviction prevention activities for eligible households.
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 (ERA2) program information collection request.
On March 11, 2021, the President signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the âActâ), Pub. L. No. 117-2. Title III, Subtitle B, Section 3201 of the Act provides $21.55 billion for the 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), and certain local governments with more than 200,000 residents (collectively, âgranteesâ) to provide financial assistance and housing stability services to eligible households, and to cover the costs for other affordable rental housing and eviction prevention activities, as defined by the Secretary, serving very low-income families.
Under the ERA2 program, Treasury pays each grantee portions of its initial ERA2 allocation in tranches as the grantee obligates funds already received. Section 3201(e) of the Act provides that â[b]eginning March 31, 2022, the Secretary shall reallocate funds allocated to eligible grantees ⦠but not yet paid ⦠according to a procedure established by the Secretary.â Treasury previously obtained approval of its reallocation portal, which collects grantee information necessary to carry out the reallocation procedure and now seeks approval of an addition to the portal that will collect information necessary to carry out the second round of ERA2 reallocation.
In reallocation based on Quarter 2 assessments, Treasuryâs prioritization process (set forth in previously submitted ERA2 Reallocation Guidance ) considers whether grantees have expended non-ERA funds on rental or utility assistance. In order to implement this process, Treasury must collect information on such expenditures. Accordingly, the proposed portal addition, which will allow grantees to report their non-ERA expenditures on rental or utility assistance, is crucial for Treasury to carry out reallocation based on Quarter 2 assessments in a timely manner.
Certain eligible grantees have exhausted, or will soon exhaust, their initial ERA2 allocations, while other grantees are unlikely to use all of the funds allocated to them. In order for Treasury to continue providing ERA2 resources to grantees experiencing the greatest need and ability to disburse assistance, and to avoid disruptions in the delivery of assistance to eligible households, Treasury requests emergency processing of its proposed addition to its ERA2 reallocation portal.
Pursuant to the ERA2 statute, Treasury has initiated elements of the reallocation procedure that rely on information already reported, but completion of the reallocation process for Quarter 2 will require Treasury to collect information regarding granteesâ non-ERA expenditures. In light of the emergency nature of the ERA2 program and the second round of reallocation already underway, Treasury hopes to have approval of its addition to the ERA2 portal by August 18, 2022 to ensure that there is sufficient time to implement the portal and trouble-shoot any technical issues before accepting grantee submissions. Given the inability to seek public comment during such a short timeframe, Treasury requests a waiver from the requirement to publish notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment.
There is an increase of 92 hours in the burden due to the addition of a Non-ERA Expenditures Report and a second round of Requests for Reallocated Funds. However there is a decrease of 425 hours due to revised estimates of both the number of reallocation applications received and the time needed to prepare the reallocation request, based on the programâs experience. Approximately 100 reallocation requests were received in the first round (instead of the previously estimated 400) and the same number of requests are estimated to be received for the second round.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Portal: Non-ERA Expenditures Report
ERA2 1505-0270-Emergency Justification Memo - ERA2 Round 2 Reallocation Portal - 7.28.22.docx
Portal: Non-ERA Expenditures Report