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 public housing authorities (PHAs). 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 through a survey with PHAs will be used to explore and evaluate HUD’s role in improving services for those in the waitlist ecosystem. Key learnings will allow the team to determine where opportunities exist for general service and program management improvement.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Research (Interview, Focus Groups)

[ ] Customer Feedback Survey

[ X] User Testing

ACTIVITY DETAILS

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

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

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

Electronic surveys will be conducted through HUD Microsoft Forms. Links to the Microsoft Form will be sent to the selected PHAs.

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?)

The survey will be sent to all PHAs from an existing list of PHAs that HUD Public and Indian Housing (PIH) program office maintains. This is to ensure that as many demographics as possible are captured as well as to account for response rates.

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)

The HUD CX team will send an email that includes a link to the Microsoft Forms survey all PHAs as described in the response to question 2. They will complete the survey through Microsoft Forms, and a “thank you” page will show up once their answers have been submitted.

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 will be collected through the Microsoft Forms survey which will be linked in the outreach email. The outreach email explains the nature of the survey and the closeout date. Reading the outreach email should take no more than 2 minutes.

If PHAs choose to participate, they will click on the link and be taken to the survey in their internet browser. Each survey should take approximately 20 minutes if fully filled out. Question response types include multiple choice, select all that apply, and free response. Free response questions are asked sparingly to reduce burden.

The survey will ask PHAs to answer about 40 questions (given logic flows) across four main categories:

• General information about the waitlist(s) the PHA manages

• The PHA’s understanding of applicants’ experience

• How waitlist data is managed

• How preferences come into play

The team will send out a follow up email to all PHAs halfway between the initial outreach email date and the survey close date. This follow up email (reading time should take no more than 2 minutes) can be ignored by those who have already taken the survey.

After the survey is closed, data will then be collected for analysis.

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.

• 2023-0412 PHA Survey (see attached)

  • Includes:

    • Initial outreach email

    • Follow up email

    • Survey questions

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.”)

This survey will be active from April-May 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
PHA Survey Participants – time to read email	3703	2 mins	123.4 hrs
PHA Survey Participants – time to complete survey	1296	20 mins	432 hrs
Totals	3703 unique respondents	2 mins to read email; 20 mins to complete survey	555.4 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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