[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 73 (Monday, April 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22599-22602]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9092]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-5580-N-03]
Department of Housing and Urban Development Summary of Public
Comments, Response to Public Comments, and Final 2012-2015
Environmental Justice Strategy
AGENCY: Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: On September 30, 2011, HUD posted its draft environmental
justice strategy and requested public comment. This notice summarizes
public comments submitted in response to HUD's draft environmental
justice strategy, offers response to comments, and announces the
release of HUD's final Environmental Justice Strategy. The changes in
the final strategy reflect HUD's consideration of the public comments
received and HUD's effort to improve and expand its commitment to
avoiding disproportionately high and adverse human health or
environmental effects on minority and low-income populations, as well
as creating geographies of opportunity. The final strategy is posted at
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/sustainable_housing_communities.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sunaree Marshall, Office of
Sustainable Housing and Communities, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10180, Washington, DC 20410,
telephone number 202-402-6011 (this is not a toll-free number). Persons
with hearing or speech impairments may access these numbers through TTY
by calling the toll-free Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On September 30, 2011, HUD published for public comment a draft
Environmental Justice Strategy for 2012 through 2015. HUD is committed
to meeting the goals of Executive Order 12898, ``Federal Actions to
Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income
Populations,'' which states that each federal agency, with the law as
its guide, should make environmental justice part of its mission. In
this regard, HUD has developed its Environmental Justice Strategy (EJ
Strategy). HUD's EJ Strategy is a four-year plan to address
environmental justice concerns and increase access to environmental
benefits through HUD policies, programs, and activities.
The release of HUD's EJ Strategy is part of the latest step in a
larger Administration-wide effort to ensure strong protection from
environmental and health hazards for all. In August 2011, federal
agencies signed the ``Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental
Justice and Executive Order 12898'' (EJ MOU), which committed each
agency to, among other things, finalizing an EJ strategy and releasing
annual implementation reports. Links to the other federal EJ Strategies
are available on the Environmental Justice Interagency Workgroup (IWG)
Web page at http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/interagency/index.html.
Now that its strategy is final, HUD will continue to work with the
IWG and other federal partners to engage stakeholders through outreach,
education, and stakeholder events and respond to public comments
through its annual implementation reports.
II. Final Strategy: Changes to the September 30, 2011 Draft EJ Strategy
This final strategy follows publication of the September 30, 2011
draft strategy and takes into consideration the public comments
received. The public comment period on the draft strategy closed on
November 23, 2011, after HUD extended the deadline from the
[[Page 22600]]
original November 14, 2011 date. HUD received relevant input from a
total of 36 commenters representing a wide variety of stakeholders,
some of whom submitted multiple comments, in response to the draft
strategy. Comments were submitted by private citizens, local, regional,
and state agencies, and advocacy groups. The comments were on a wide
variety of issues from many different sections of the draft strategy.
III. Discussion of Public Comments Received on the September 30, 2011
Draft Strategy
This section presents a summary of the significant issues raised by
the public comments in response to the September 30, 2011 Draft EJ
Strategy and HUD's responses to these issues.
Comment: HUD should expand the definition of ``Colonias'' to
include rural communities with similar characteristics but not located
on the southern border of the U.S. to increase assistance to farmworker
and rural communities.
Response: For the purposes of the colonia set-aside in the CDBG
program, HUD must follow the requirements of Sec. 916(e)(1) of the
1990 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, which defines
colonia as: ``Any identifiable community * * * in the State of Arizona,
California, New Mexico, or Texas * * * in the United States-Mexico
border region * * * [and] is determined to be a colonia on the basis of
objective criteria, including lack of potable water supply, lack of
adequate sewage systems, and lack of decent, safe and sanitary
housing.'' Because the geography of the colonia is defined in statute,
expanding the definition would require a statutory change by Congress.
Comment: HUD should include clear and specific requirements and
incentives for energy and water efficiency in all HUD housing
rehabilitation and construction programs.
Response: HUD values energy efficiency and is committed to
efficient, green, and healthy homes. Subgoal 4B of HUD's Strategic Plan
for FY 2010-2015 calls on HUD to ``support and promote an energy-
efficient, green, and healthy housing market by retrofitting existing
housing, supporting energy-efficient new construction, improving home
energy labeling, and promoting financing products that reduce the
carbon footprint of non-HUD-supported residential buildings.''
Furthermore, for the past several Fiscal Years, HUD has offered policy
priority points to applicants that plan to use HUD discretionary grant
program funding to build or rehabilitate to a recognized green building
rating standard (see section I.B.2. of HUD's Fiscal Year (FY) 2012
Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) Policy Requirements and General
Section to HUD's FY2012 NOFAs for Discretionary Programs).
Comment: HUD should add to selection criteria of all NOFAs a
discussion of the impact a project would have on homeless populations
and planned mitigation strategies, where appropriate.
Response: One of the goals outlined in HUD's Strategic Plan for FY
2010-2015 is ending homelessness by reducing the number of homeless
families, chronically homeless individuals, and homeless veterans. To
achieve this goal, HUD has partnered with local, state, and Federal
organizations, including the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness,
to deploy evidence-based interventions, such as supportive housing,
housing first, homelessness prevention, and rapid rehousing, to more
effectively and efficiently use the Nation's limited resources to bring
an end to homelessness. While a criterion described in the comment is
not included in all of the NOFAs for HUD's discretionary programs, HUD
is working proactively to end homelessness through strategies such as:
providing additional individuals and families with rental housing
subsidies; increasing service-enriched housing; working with state and
local governments to expand rental assistance and prevent homelessness;
and improving access to HUD-funded housing assistance by eliminating
administrative barriers and encouraging prioritization of households
most at risk for homelessness.
Comment: Two commenters noted that the strategy was broad in scope
and lacked benchmarks and goals that would quantify performance and aid
in implementation.
Response: HUD is eager to make headway on the myriad department-
wide and program office-specific policy priorities outlined in the EJ
Strategy in the pursuit of environmental justice--defined by HUD as
equal access to safe and healthy housing for all Americans, mitigating
risks to communities in disaster-prone areas, access to affordable,
quality housing free of hazards to residents' health, and working to
achieve inclusive, sustainable communities free from discrimination.
The next step in the process is finalizing the EJ Strategy to comply
with Executive Order 12898. This strategy lays out the general
principles of HUD's approach to Environmental Justice but is not
intended to be HUD's last word on the subject. Beginning in 2012, HUD
will provide an annual report on progress in carrying out this strategy
and Executive Order 12898, with meaningful opportunities for public
comment and recommendations.
Comment: Multiple commenters wanted to know more about the EJ
training, progress reports, potential new reporting requirements, and
policies that were mentioned in the draft EJ Strategy. One commenter
further noted that HUD should expand the training materials it is
planning to provide to include seminars, webinars, handouts, and in-
person training.
Response: Finalizing and releasing the 2012-2015 EJ Strategy is the
first step toward working toward the priorities outlined in the
Strategy, including offering EJ training and reporting HUD's annual
progress. Now that HUD has finalized its Strategy, HUD's EJ Working
Group and other staff will continue to work to develop training
materials, as well as a timeline for progress reports, and will make
details available to the public. HUD's Web site will continue to be the
best place to find information on training, progress reports, and any
relevant guidance.
Comment: HUD should issue the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA)-related guidance on how it will consider environmental justice
impacts of major federal actions affecting the environment.
Response: In Section A.3 of the Strategy, HUD commits to reviewing
and evaluating environmental review requirements and delivering special
training materials to HUD and grantee staff on environmental justice.
Comment: HUD needs to change the definition of what constitutes
affordable housing to include energy and water efficiency standards.
Response: HUD understands that both transportation and utility
costs have a significant impact on the overall affordability of housing
for individuals. Several initiatives are underway to improve our
understanding of the combined cost of housing, energy, and
transportation for American households. HUD took unprecedented actions
in FY2010 and FY2011 to increase energy efficiency in affordable
housing. Through an interagency Rental Policy Working Group, HUD, the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other federal
agencies adopted a framework for common energy efficiency standards in
federally-assisted affordable rental housing, as published on December
31, 2011 in the Federal Alignment Report (http://www.huduser.org/
portal/aff--rental--hsg/
[[Page 22601]]
RPWG--Conceptual--Proposals--Fall--2011.pdf).
In addition, as part of a joint effort with the Department of
Energy (DOE), HUD established and exceeded a two-year goal for energy
efficient, healthy retrofits and new construction of affordable units.
Through HUD's core programs, HUD has expanded financing, increased
technical assistance, and strengthened basic energy requirements to
advance greater energy efficiency. Many of HUD's competitive grant
programs provide bonus points for projects that comply with standards
including EnergyStar, WaterSense, and Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED). The competitive nature of these programs
often ensures that only proposals that achieve these points are funded.
HUD also acknowledges successful sustainable projects of various types
through national award programs as an additional incentive to achieve
these and other goals. Through a partnership with DOE to break down
interagency barriers, more than 1.5 million units of HUD-assisted
housing have increased access to funding under DOE's Weatherization
Assistance Program.
In FY2011, HUD continued existing innovative energy-efficiency
financing programs such as the Mark-to-Market green initiative, and
launched new financing programs such as the PowerSaver pilot program to
provide FHA-insured loans for homeowners to invest in home energy
improvements and the Fannie Mae-FHA Green Refinance Plus that allows
for refinancing of existing affordable multifamily rental properties
into new mortgages that include funds for energy saving improvements.
HUD is also working to improve its data collection and reporting
systems on energy efficiency. For example, HUD strengthened the
Integrated Disbursement & Information System (IDIS) reporting for
Recovery Act reporting through HOME, the Community Development Block
Grant Program (CDBG), and the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP),
as well as energy improvements funded through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (Pub. L. 111-5) (Recovery Act) Capital Fund in public
housing. The Administration's FY2013 Budget proposal for the Office of
Sustainable Housing and Communities builds on this progress and
requests funding to support energy efficiency and green building
initiatives which will allow HUD to further develop uniform energy
efficiency guidelines for HUD-assisted properties.
Comment: HUD should set standards for making spatially referenced
housing information available to local agencies. (Example: Assigning
multi-family units to their actual location versus the address of a
management office.) Also, HUD could provide funding and/or leadership
in creating agreements with private vendors (like RealtyTrac) to make
standardized, geo-coded foreclosure information accessible to local
jurisdictions and to the public.
Response: HUD is currently investing in a project called Enterprise
Geospatial Services that includes establishing geocoding standards for
the agency and conducting an agency-wide geospatial needs assessment.
The geospatial needs assessment will include a summation of the
agency's geospatial environment as is and recommendations for an
enterprise geospatial architecture for HUD. In recent years, HUD has
made great strides toward expanding our geospatial mapping capacity and
tools for the public. Thirteen mapping tools for various HUD programs
are available at: http://egis.hud.gov. This page will soon be rebuilt
using portal technology that will allow users to search or browse for
data, services, and applications. In addition to supporting these
specific applications, HUD is also designing a public map services
program that will make core data sets available to Federal and local
partners and the general public. HUD projects that these map services
will be available in starting in 2012 in a variety of standard formats,
such as WMS, REST, and KML. At this point, HUD is unable to reach a
licensing agreement that would allow the agency to make foreclosure
data publicly available that would not be prohibitively expensive.
Comment: With close to half of the Tribes recognized by the United
States of America located in Alaska, and the known communication issues
between many of these Villages and Federal Agencies, HUD is not doing
enough to make it possible for the Alaska Tribes to participate in a
meaningful way. In addition, HUD is not doing enough to stop pollution
from entering Alaska's natural environment, which has adverse effects
for many indigenous peoples. Finally, with almost half the federally
recognized tribes located in Alaska, HUD should pursue budget equity
with the funds designated as tribal funds. The majority of funds should
be directed to Alaska's Tribes.
Response: HUD and its Office of Native American Programs recognize
and support the sovereignty of federally recognized Tribes through the
unique government-to-government relationship formally established
between the Tribes and the United States government. This relationship
is reflected in HUD's Government-to-Government Tribal Consultation
Policy which was established pursuant to Executive Order 13175 which
required federal agencies to: (1) Establish regular and meaningful
consultation and collaboration with Indian Tribal officials in the
development of federal policies that have tribal implications; (2)
strengthen the United States government-to-government relationships
with Indian Tribes; and (3) reduce the imposition of unfunded mandates
upon Indian Tribes. HUD's Government-to-Government Tribal Consultation
Policy applies to all HUD programs that have substantial direct effects
on federally recognized Indian Tribal governments.
Regarding environmental impacts, recipients of HUD grant funds,
including the Office of Native American Programs' NAHASDA Indian
Housing Block Grant and Indian Community Development Block Grant
programs, must meet the statutory and regulatory provisions of NEPA and
other environmental laws and authorities. HUD environmental regulations
establish a policy that properties proposed for use in HUD programs be
free of hazardous materials and contamination that could affect the
health and safety of occupants or conflict with the intended use of the
property.
Finally, regarding the allocation of funds to federally recognized
Tribes, HUD's Government-to-Government Tribal Consultation Policy
clearly establishes the methodologies HUD will follow to affect
meaningful Tribal Consultation and Collaboration at the local,
regional, and national levels. Consistent with HUD's Tribal
Consultation Policy and in accordance with the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, HUD has established a
number of negotiated rulemaking committees in the past to develop and
regularly review program regulations governing the allocation of Indian
Housing Block Grant (IHBG) to Indian tribes. In doing so, HUD ensured
that each committee, as a whole, reflected a geographically diverse
cross-section of small, medium, and large Indian tribes, including
representatives of Alaska tribes. All decisions made by these
committees have historically been made on a consensus basis. HUD
intends to establish negotiated rulemaking committees in the future to
review the method by which IHBG funds are allocated to Indian tribes
and remains committed to ensuring continued tribal participation. This
process has been
[[Page 22602]]
effective in the past in ensuring the fair and equitable distribution
of IHBG grant funds among all program recipients.
Comment: HUD should apply a public health framework to all offices
and programs.
Response: HUD knows that stable, healthy housing is inextricably
tied to individual health and has made improving health outcomes a
priority in its Strategic Plan. Improving health outcomes starts by
increasing health knowledge and access to health services. Strategies
HUD is committed to pursuing in 2010-2015 include: Increasing
information about and access to health services, including veterans'
health benefits, through partnerships with health organizations and
healthcare delivery systems; increasing coordination of HUD programs
with healthcare resources administered by other federal, state, and
local programs; providing physical space to co-locate healthcare and
wellness services with housing (for example, onsite health clinics);
and promoting housing management practices that protect the health of
residents (for example, smoking cessation, pest management, and green
cleaning).
HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control administers
lead hazard and healthy homes programs, enforces lead paint
regulations, and sets policies to reduce health and safety hazards in
housing. Its comprehensive approach to healthy homes takes into account
a variety of hazards in the home that can affect health, especially the
presence of lead; these hazards often disproportionately impact EJ
communities.
Health is embedded in many other HUD programs as well. For
instance, a goal of the Choice Neighborhoods program is to convert some
of the worst of the nation's public housing into higher-quality, mixed-
income, mixed-tenure developments. The vision is to help communities
transform into walkable neighborhoods with amenities and health
services that allow residents to lead healthier lives. The Housing
Choice Voucher program allows recipients of HUD assistance the mobility
and freedom to choose the neighborhood they live in, allowing some
people to leave neighborhoods that were less healthy, from a stress,
safety, or walkability standpoint, to one that is more healthy.
Comment: HUD should make public safety a priority in all its
programs, as it does in the Choice Neighborhoods program.
Response: Public safety is a key priority for HUD and a component
of its Strategic Plan (Subgoal 3E). HUD knows that safety and the
perception of safety are necessary factors for quality of life and that
enhancing physical safety and reducing crime are essential to improving
health, education, and economic outcomes. HUD's Strategic Plan
describes HUD's strategies for improving actual safety and perceptions
of safety, including: encouraging housing managers to use incentives to
promote safety awareness and crime prevention programs; maintaining or
improving the physical environment and design of HUD-assisted
residences, giving attention to physical safety and crime prevention;
and promoting a high level of coordination with law enforcement
agencies to prevent and reduce crime. The new Choice Neighborhoods
program is one example of how HUD is beginning to realize this
strategic goal.
Comment: The Fair Housing Equity Assessment component of the
Sustainable Communities grant programs should require mapping health
variables to evaluate the impact of healthy and unhealthy community
assets.
Response: The Fair Housing Equity Assessment requirement for HUD
Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program grantees
includes an identification and assessment of segregated areas and areas
of increasing diversity and/or racial/ethnic integration, racially/
ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, access to existing areas of
high opportunity, major public investments, and fair housing issues,
services, and activities. During the course of their work, Regional
Planning grantees are required to engage stakeholders and create
planning priorities around positive community health outcomes.
Comment: HUD should prioritize housing mobility programs to work
toward the goal of environmental justice.
Response: HUD is committed to providing choices and mobility to
residents of public and assisted housing. Through HUD's Transforming
Rental Assistance Initiative, HUD will work with partners at the state
and local levels to regionalize rental assistance administration and to
offer residents the option to receive tenant-based Section 8 vouchers,
giving families access to a wider range of choices and opportunities
when it comes to choosing a place to live.
Comment: HUD should use its Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)
authority to create a National Equitable Development Advisory Council.
Response: HUD is exploring the most effective ways to bring
Federal, state, and local partners and stakeholder expertise to bear on
its Environmental Justice work. Establishing an Advisory Council is an
option that HUD will look into going forward.
Dated: April 10, 2012.
Shelley Poticha,
Director, Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities.
[FR Doc. 2012-9092 Filed 4-13-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P