View Information Collection Request (ICR) Package

OMB Control No: 0970-0628	ICR Reference No: 202501-0970-001
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 202408-0970-011
Agency/Subagency: HHS/ACF	Agency Tracking No:
Title: Office of Community Services Affordable Housing and Supportive Services Demonstration Data Collection
Type of Information Collection: No material or nonsubstantive change to a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 01/08/2025
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 01/07/2025
Terms of Clearance: Previous Terms of Clearance/Comments continue: Approved consistent with the understanding that in the next revision/extension of the package (for 2025 versions and onwards), the agency will update the race/ethnicity question in this information collection to be in compliance with the updated SPD 15 (effective as of March 28, 2024).

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	10/31/2027	10/31/2027	10/31/2027
Responses	1,462	0	1,474
Time Burden (Hours)	1,393	0	1,411
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: The Affordable Housing and Supportive Services Demonstration (AHSSD) Data Collection (OMB #0970-0628) was originally approved in March 2024 and then revised in September 2024. The information collection includes individual-level survey instruments and on-site focus groups to collect information from program participants, onsite and virtual interviews to collect information from program staff, and report forms to capture service delivery and outcomes. The Office of Community Services (OCS) has not yet collected data using the focus group and interview protocols. After we awarded our most recent round of grants, we realized that budgetary constraints may impede the collection of data via in-person site visits. Collecting this data in person would require extensive staff travel, which will be difficult to achieve given budgetary and staff constraints. OCS has begun collecting data with the survey instruments for baseline data, and we have recently begun the first wave of data collection for the follow up survey. Our analyses of the follow-up data has demonstrated that we can trim a few items to reduce participant burden as they are not needed for the longitudinal analysis. OCS requests changes to achieve efficiencies in collecting in-depth qualitative data from participants and staff, as well as minor changes to reduce burden. To achieve efficiencies in collecting in-depth qualitative data, OCS would like to transition from on-site data collection with participants and staff to virtual data collection. OCS had originally planned to conduct site visits during which we would conduct interviews and focus groups, but we believe that conducting these collections virtually would lead to significant time savings for OCS, grant recipients, and participants. Additionally, in order to better promote participant privacy in the virtual environment, we propose to transition from using a focus group format for the participant data collection to using an interview. It is difficult in a virtual environment to ensure that participants are only sharing information with those in the focus group, so we would like to conduct this collection as individual interviews to better ensure privacy of participants. We also make revisions to reduce burden on participants. Upon running our preliminary analysis on the service receipt questionnaire and self-sufficiency matrix, we realized that we do not need length of time in current housing and number of children in the household in the service receipt questionnaire. The self-sufficiency matrix provides a firmer sense of length of time in service delivery with the item about enrollment in case management services. Additionally, our analysis does not use the number of children item because we are most interested in child-care utilization, the need for which is captured in the self-sufficiency matrix. As a result, we updated Instrument 2 (Service receipt questionnaire) to remove “how long have you lived in your current housing” and “how many children under the age of 18 live in your household” Finally, we make minor revisions to increase the flexibility of these instruments moving forward. Primarily, across all items in this change request, we indicate that we will insert an appropriate contact in the PRA statement by adding [contact] to the statement.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 42 USC 1310 Name of Law: Social Security Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	89 FR 49878	06/12/2024
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	89 FR 71371	09/03/2024
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? Yes

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	1,462	1,474	-12
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	1,393	1,411	-18
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Reduction Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Short Statement: The number of respondents was adjusted to reflect a change from focus groups to interviews for one activity.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $43,000

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. Yes

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Molly Buck 202 205-4724 mary.buck@acf.hhs.gov

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