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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 192 / Thursday, October 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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children needing to change schools,45
increased cohabitation,46 and increased homelessness,47 which harms owners and undercuts the effectiveness of HUDs work by increasing the strain on its resources and programs. Reducing evictions results in less costs and resources that PHAs and owners have to expend to process evictions; reduced costs associated with unit turnover; and reduction in burdens associated with bringing on new tenants. Additionally, there is potential benefit accruing to the landlord from the tenants securing of ERA funding through the repayment of back rent using ERA funding. There is also benefit to PHAs and owners to maintain tenants who are otherwise good tenants other than the impact of the COVID19 pandemic on their income.
Delaying the rulemaking for prior notice and comment would be impracticable and contrary to the public interest. HUD believes the public interest is best served by ensuring that all tenants can benefit from the opportunity to access ERA funding and stay in HUD-assisted housing than limiting such benefit only to tenants who would benefit from this rule after notice and comment.
HUD values public input in its rulemakings and believes that providing the opportunity for comment enhances its regulations. HUDs regulations on rulemaking at 24 CFR part 10, provide for 60-days of public comment for proposed rules and an exception for good cause. Additionally, HUD often solicits comments on its rules and provides for a 60-day comment period even when not required under the APA.
Due to the COVID19 national emergency, delaying this rule to accept research-and-reports/US-Multifamily-ResearchBrief---Apartment-Turnover-Declines-in-COVID-19Crisis-June-2020.
45 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID19 pandemic: Helping young children and parents transition back to school, U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sept. 2, 2021 https www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/
features/COVID-19-helping-children-transitionback-to-school.html.
46 See, e.g., L.E. DOnofrio, Jr., F.D. Buono, and M.A.R. Coopera, Cohabitation COVID19
transmission rates in a United States suburban community: A retrospective study of familial infections, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Jan. 16, 2021 https
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7816609/
The cohabitation infection attack rate of SARS
CoV2 is significantly higher than previously reported. Age of household contacts and spousal relationship to the index case are risk factors for transmission of SARSCoV2 within a household..
47 Robert Collinson and Davin Reed, The Effects of Evictions on Low-Income Households, NY
Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy February 2019 https robcollinson.github.io/
Robwebsite/jmp_rcollinson.pdf.

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prior public comment would be contrary to the public interest. The provisions in this interim final rule are designed specifically to be limited in scope and apply only in a national emergency period. For the reasons explained above, HUD finds that there is good cause consistent with the public interest to issue the rule without advance notice and comment.
HUDs policy of providing 60 days for public comment only applies to proposed rules, not to interim final rules. In this case, HUD does not believe that 60 days is needed for public comment, given the limited changes being made in this interim final rule, and also believes it is in the public interest to secure comments quickly. In providing for 30-days, HUD anticipates reviewing any such comments on a rolling basis as they are received and acting quickly if it determines to adopt any suggestions that may be made in the public comments. For the reasons above, HUD has determined that in this case a 30-day public comment period is appropriate.
Other Justifications for the Interim Final Rule In taking this action, HUD is protecting the efficient and effective operation of its public housing and project-based rental assistance programs, the interests of the tenants whose rent it subsidizes, and landlords business needs. This interim final rule is narrowly tailored so that it will require, during an emergency such as this one, notification to be provided to tenants regarding the availability of emergency funds and a brief extension of the time that must be provided before lease termination for nonpayment of rent, thus permitting the tenant to seek to secure such emergency funds to cure the deficiencies before commencement of eviction. It will not change any other eviction procedures. This interim final rule does not require that PHAs or owners immediately amend leases in accordance with this rule, but it would not prohibit PHAs and owners from amending lease terms to be consistent with this rule if they so choose.
HUD recognizes that some housing providers are already supporting tenants access to ERA funds and delaying evictions for nonpayment of rent. In fact, in HUDs rental assistance programs, households can recertify their income in the case of a job loss or other change in income so to avoid or reduce the likelihood of failure to pay rent delinquencies. Similarly, housing providers can also work with tenants to create repayment plans and to adjust rent amounts. HUD believes these to be
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sound management practices that are aligned with this rules purposes.
However, not all housing providers may be providing additional time for tenants to access ERA funds, allowing recertifications to be retroactive to cover arrears, or actively encouraging tenants to recertify their income.
This focused interim final rule does not prevent evictions altogether, but instead requires PHAs and owners to provide information about accessing ERA and additional time to do so when there is an eviction for nonpayment of rent, thus minimizing costs associated with unit turnover from tenant to tenant, preventing unnecessary hardship for HUD-assisted tenants, and ensuring that housing providers can continue to operate effectively.
III. Alternatives Considered and Scope This interim final rules scope is limited to address only situations in which federally assisted public housing agencies and PBRA housing providers may access federally appropriated emergency funding to help tenants satisfy rent obligations caused by a national emergency, like the COVID19
pandemic. It directly applies only in instances where tenants in certain HUDsupported housing are facing eviction due to nonpayment of rent during such an emergency and places the burden on HUD to provide the information necessary to include in the notice provided by PHAs and owners to tenants.
The interim final rule also seeks to balance the interest of tenants and the reliance of PHAs and multifamily owners in administering their program.
The interim final rule provides for a modest period of additional time, 30days, for tenants to apply for emergency financial assistance. HUD understands that some tenants may be unable to secure ERA funding, or future assistance provided to address an emergency, within a 30-day period. Administration of ERA assistance differs between states and localities and in some programs a PHA, owner, or tenant would not receive the ERA payment within 30days of application. However, in considering what would be a reasonable and practical extension of time to require, HUD settled on 30 days because, as discussed above, it is a timeperiod to which owners are already accustomed, and it would have minimal impact on program operations. HUD
also settled on at least 30 days because it is a set time frame for which PHAs and multifamily owners could rely for implementation.
HUD strongly encourages PHAs and owners to work with tenants who are
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