Waitlist Data Management and Burden Improvement at HUD

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience: OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation”

(OMB Control Number: 2511-0001)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Waitlist Data Management and Burden Improvement at HUD

PURPOSE OF COLLECTION:

To surface potential roles that HUD can play to improve experiences for customers in the waitlist ecosystem, HUD is seeking to gather input directly from populations involved in or impacted by the waitlist ecosystem, including end-customers, public housing agencies (PHAs), those in state governments involved in waitlists, and waitlist software providers. Known current barriers include the following:

• Those needing affordable rental housing often have the fewest resources and least time. They must navigate a complex, burdensome ecosystem to secure and maintain affordable housing.

• At the same time, waitlist managers often lack visibility into the latest data or other data sources and do not have a set of shared standards for waitlist management and administration which, among other inefficiencies, can lead to longer wait time for applicants.

• Because of partners’ disparate and limited access of data, HUD also experiences challenges in accessing and analyzing waitlist-related data.

Data gathered during conversations with those within the waitlist ecosystem will be used to explore and evaluate HUD’s role in improving services for those in the waitlist ecosystem. Key learnings may be used to produce design artifacts such as user personas or journey maps that, in turn, will serve to inform decision-making for general service improvement and program management purposes.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)

[ X] Customer Research (Interview, Focus Groups)

[ ] Customer Feedback Survey

[ ] User Testing

ACTIVITY DETAILS

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ X] Telephone

[ X] In-person

[ X] Mail

[ X] Other, Explain

Customer research will be conducted through Microsoft Teams, but outreach to establish participants will be conducted via other forms, which include social media, telephone, and email.

2. Who will you collect the information from?

Explain who will be interviewed and why the group is appropriate for the Federal program / service to connect with. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and if only a sample will be solicited for feedback, how you will select them(e.g., anyone who provided an email address to a call center rep, a representative sample of Veterans who received outpatient services in May 2019, do you have a list of customers to reach out to (e.g., a CRM database that has the contact information, intercept interviews at a particular field office?)

In order to surface potential roles that HUD can play to improve experiences for customers in the waitlist ecosystem, HUD is seeking to speak directly to individuals who meet the following criteria:

• Those working at PHAs or Performance Based Contract Administrations (PBCAs) who meet one or more of these requirements:

  • PHAs or PBCAs in a rural area

  • PHAs or PBCAs in a suburban area

  • PHAs or PBCAs in an urban area

  • PHAs or PBCAs for housing choice voucher programs

  • PHAs or PBCAs for public housing program

  • PHAs or PBCAs for project-based voucher programs

• Those working in state governments who have knowledge of the waitlist ecosystem for their state:

• Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties with waitlists who meet one or more of these requirements:

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties in a rural area

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties in a suburban area

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties in a urban area

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties with less than 50 housing units

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties with between 51 and 100 housing units

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties with between 101 and 300 housing units

  • Property managers of third-party or multi-family housing properties with over 300 housing units

• Those who are end-customers currently or formerly impacted by housing waitlists who meet one or more of these requirements:

  • End-customers in a rural area

  • End-customers in a suburban area

  • End-customers in an urban area

  • End-customers currently on a waitlist

  • End-customers who have tried applying for a waitlist in the past

  • End-customers who are current residents in HUD-assisted housing that used a waitlist

  • End-customers with a need for 0-1 bedrooms

  • End-customers with a need for 2 bedrooms

  • End-customers with a need for 3 or more bedrooms

• Those working for an organization in the waitlist ecosystem (i.e., organizations that provide waitlist software to waitlist administrators, housing network or community organizations, nonprofits)

HUD will work closely with partner organizations (PHAs, Housing Counseling Agencies, nonprofits) to identify individuals who may be interested in participating in this effort. After partner organizations have been given an overview of the research and are provided with necessary outreach templates, they can help recruit individuals via email, telephone, or social media. Interested individuals will complete a screener to ensure they meet the above criteria and/or provide their availability. Eligible participants who submit the screener will be contacted by HUD’s research team to schedule a one-on-one interview or focus group.

3. How will you ask a respondent to provide this information?

(e.g., after an application is submitted online, the final screen will present the opportunity to provide feedback by presenting a link to a feedback form / an actual feedback form)

An online screener will be used to collect basic information necessary to confirm respondent’s eligibility and/or schedule conversations (i.e., contact information, regional location, housing situation/past housing experience, housing waitlist experience, disability accommodations, and meeting availability). After signing up for a conversation, a consent form will be sent to participants to consent to having the conversations anonymously documented and recorded (if applicable). Participants will also be given the opportunity to consent verbally at the beginning of our conversation with them.

4. What will the activity look like?

Describe the information collection activity – e.g. what happens when a person agrees to participate? Will facilitators or interviewers be used? What’s the format of the interview/focus group? If a survey, describe the overall survey layout/length/other details? If User Testing, what actions will you observe / how will you have respondents interact with a product you need feedback on?

Information collection activities will include semi-structured one-on-one hour-long conversations and 1.5-hour-long focus groups. These activities will be led by facilitators from HUD’s Customer Experience team (including Booz Allen contractors). As appropriate, a HUD interpreter will help facilitate conversations.

It is not the intent to ask participants a standardized set of questions. Instead, participants will engage in a loosely guided conversation with facilitators in which they will be asked to share their lived experiences and opinions related to a set of topics. Specific question phrasing and areas of deeper exploration will be determined on an ad hoc basis by facilitators during the conversation. Facilitators will cover key areas of participant’s lived experience to unearth experiences in the waitlist ecosystem.

5. Please provide your question list.

Paste here the questions or prompts presented to participants in your activity. If you have an interview / facilitator guide, that can be attached to the submission and referenced here.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

• Participant Outreach (see attached)

  • Waitlist - 01 - Participant Outreach - Partner Focus Groups

  • Waitlist - 01 - Participant Outreach - Resident and Housing Provider Focus Groups

  • Waitlist - 01 - Participant Outreach - SME Interviews

• Screener and availability selection (see attached)

  • Waitlist - 02 - Screener – Interest and Availability

  • Waitlist - 02 - Screener - Resident

• Informed consent form (see attached)

  • Waitlist - 03 - Consent Form - Focus Group

  • Waitlist - 03 - Consent Form - Interview

• Discussion guide (see attached)

  • Waitlist - 04 - Discussion Guide

6. When will the activity happen?

Describe the time frame or number of events that will occur (e.g., We will conduct focus groups on May 13,14,15, We plan to conduct customer intercept interviews over the course of the Summer at the field offices identified in response to #2 based on scheduling logistics concluding by Sept. 10^th, or “This survey will remain on our website in alignment with the timing of the overall clearance.”)

These activities will take place from January-April 2023.

7. Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants?

[ ] Yes [ X] No

If Yes, describe:

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Outreach Participants	150	5 mins	12.5 hrs
Screener Participants (each participant will only receive a single type of screener)	150	3 mins	7.5 hrs
Interview Participants	20	60 mins	20 hrs
Focus Group Participants	48	90 mins	72 hrs
Totals	150 unique respondents	5 mins (outreach) / 3 mins (screener) / 60 mins (interview) / 90 mins (focus group)	112 hrs

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collections are voluntary;

2. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;

3. The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;

4. Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future;

5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;

6. Information gathered is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management purposes

7. Upon agreement between OMB and the agency aggregated data may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 requirements only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer journey maps.

8. Additional release of data will be coordinated with OMB.

Name: Amber Chaudhry, Customer Experience Lead, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Chief Financial Officer – Customer Experience Team

All instruments used to collect information must include:

OMB Control No. 2511-0001

Expiration Date: 09/30/2024

HELP SHEET

(OMB Control Number: 2511-0001)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

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