80 FR 50853 - Federal Home Loan Bank Community Support Program-Opportunity To Comment on Members Subject To Review

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 162 (August 21, 2015)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is announcing that FHFA will review all applicable Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) members in 2015 under FHFA's community support requirements regulation. This Notice invites the public to comment on the community support performance of individual members.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 162 (Friday, August 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50853-50854]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20734]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2015-N-6]


Federal Home Loan Bank Community Support Program--Opportunity To 
Comment on Members Subject To Review

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is announcing that 
FHFA will review all applicable Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) members 
in 2015 under FHFA's community support requirements regulation. This 
Notice invites the public to comment on the community support 
performance of individual members.

DATES: Public comments on individual Bank members' community support 
performance must be submitted to FHFA on or before December 31, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Comments on members' community support performance should be 
submitted to FHFA by electronic mail at 
[email protected] or by fax to 202-649-4130.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melissa Allen, Principal Program 
Analyst, at [email protected] or 202-658-9266, Office 
of Housing and Community Investment, Division of Housing Mission and 
Goals, Federal Housing Finance Agency, Ninth Floor, 400 Seventh Street 
SW., Washington, DC 20024.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Community Support Review

    Section 10(g)(1) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) 
requires FHFA to promulgate regulations establishing standards of 
community investment or service that Bank members must meet in order to 
maintain access to long-term Bank advances. See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1). 
The regulations promulgated by FHFA must take into account factors such 
as the Bank member's performance under the Community Reinvestment Act 
of 1977 (CRA), 12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq., and the Bank member's record of 
lending to first-time homebuyers. See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(2). Pursuant to 
section 10(g) of the Bank Act, FHFA has promulgated a community support 
requirements regulation that establishes standards a Bank member must 
meet in order to maintain access to long-term advances, and establishes 
review criteria FHFA must apply in evaluating a member's community 
support performance. See 12 CFR part 1290. The regulation includes 
standards and criteria for the two statutory factors--members' CRA 
performance and members' record of lending to first-time homebuyers. 12 
CFR 1290.3. Only members subject to the CRA must meet the CRA standard. 
12 CFR 1290.3(b). All members subject to community support review, 
including those not subject to the CRA, must meet the first-time 
homebuyer standard. 12 CFR 1290.3(c). Members that have been certified 
as community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are deemed to 
be in compliance with the community support requirements and are not 
subject to periodic community support review, unless the CDFI member is 
also an insured depository institution or a CDFI credit union. 12 CFR 
1290.2(d). In addition, FHFA will not review an institution's community 
support performance until it has been a Bank member for at least one 
year. 12 CFR 1290.2(e).
    Under the regulation, as amended effective June 29, 2015, FHFA 
reviews all applicable members in 2015 and every two years afterwards. 
FHFA is currently in transition to this new schedule beginning in 2015, 
and has already reviewed the community support performance of a 
significant number of Bank members during the 2014-15 review cycle that 
FHFA conducted under the previous regulation. Consequently, during the 
balance of 2015, FHFA is reviewing the community support performance of 
applicable members that have not already submitted Community Support 
Statements during the 2014-15 cycle. 12 CFR 1290.2(b)(2).

II. Public Comments

    FHFA encourages the public to submit comments on the community 
support performance of Bank members, on or before December 31, 2015. 
Under the amended regulation, each Bank has notified its Advisory 
Council, nonprofit housing developers, community groups, and other 
interested parties in its district, and has posted a notice on its 
public Web site of the opportunity to submit comments on the community 
support programs and activities of Bank members, with the name and 
address of each member subject to community support review. 12 CFR 
1290.2(c)(1). In reviewing a member for community support compliance, 
FHFA will consider any public comments it has received concerning the 
member. 12 CFR 1290.2(c)(3). To ensure consideration by FHFA, comments 
concerning the community support performance of members being reviewed 
in 2015 must be submitted to FHFA, either by electronic mail to 
[email protected], or by fax to 202-649-4130, on or 
before December 31, 2015. 12 CFR 1290.2(c)(2).
    The names of applicable members currently subject to Community 
Support review can be found on the public Web sites for the individual 
Banks at:

Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston--District 1 (Connecticut, 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) http://www.fhlbboston.com/communitydevelopment/programs/support_statements.jsp
Federal Home Loan Bank of New York--District 2 (New Jersey, New York, 
Puerto Rico) http://www.fhlbny.com/news-events/bulletins-memos/prior-bulletins-memos/2015/bulletin062915.aspx
Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh--District 3 (Delaware, 
Pennsylvania, West Virginia) http://

[[Page 50854]]

www.fhlb-pgh.com/community-support.html
Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta--District 4 (Alabama, District of 
Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Virginia) http://corp.fhlbatl.com/fhlbank-atlanta-highlights/2015-community-support-review/
Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati--District 5 (Kentucky, Ohio, 
Tennessee) https://web.fhlbcin.com/Documents/Community%20Support%20Public%20Notice%20Master.pdf
Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis--District 6 (Indiana, Michigan) 
http://www.fhlbi.com/housing/documents/LettertoInterestedParties.pdf
Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago--District 7 (Illinois, Wisconsin) 
http://www.fhlbc.com/ProductsandServices/CommunityInvestmentsandAffordableHousingPrograms/Pages/federal-home-loan-bank-chicago-community-support-statements.aspx
Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines--District 8 (Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, 
Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South 
Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming) http://www.fhlbdm.com/homepage-news-feed/2015-community-support-statement/
Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas--District 9 (Arkansas, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas) https://www.fhlb.com/membership/Pages/Community-Support-Standards.aspx
Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka--District 10 (Colorado, Kansas, 
Nebraska, Oklahoma) http://www.fhlbtopeka.com/s/index.cfm?aid=336
Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco--District 11 (Arizona, 
California, Nevada) http://www.fhlbsf.com/community/grant/community-support-review.aspx

    Dated: August 17, 2015.
Melvin L. Watt,
Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2015-20734 Filed 8-20-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-P