83 FR 19188 - Affordable Housing Program Amendments; Correction, Extension of Comment Period, and Further Request for Comment

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 85 (May 2, 2018)

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is correcting an inadvertent error in the calculation of a proposed regulatory outcome requirement in the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on March 14, 2018, regarding the Federal Home Loan Banks' (Banks) Affordable Housing Program (AHP or Program). FHFA is requesting comment on the corrected calculation and is extending the comment period on all aspects of the proposed rule by an additional 30 days.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 2, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 19188-19189]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09326]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 2, 2018 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 19188]]



FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

12 CFR Parts 1290 and 1291

RIN 2590-AA83


Affordable Housing Program Amendments; Correction, Extension of 
Comment Period, and Further Request for Comment

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: Proposed rule; correction, extension of comment period, and 
further request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is correcting an 
inadvertent error in the calculation of a proposed regulatory outcome 
requirement in the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on 
March 14, 2018, regarding the Federal Home Loan Banks' (Banks) 
Affordable Housing Program (AHP or Program). FHFA is requesting comment 
on the corrected calculation and is extending the comment period on all 
aspects of the proposed rule by an additional 30 days.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule, published at 83 FR 
11344 (March 14, 2018), is extended to June 12, 2018. Written comments 
must be received on or before this date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments, identified by Regulatory 
Information Number (RIN) 2590-AA83, by any one of the following 
methods:
     Agency Website: www.fhfa.gov/open-for-comment-or-input.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. If you submit your 
comment to the Federal eRulemaking Portal, please also send it by email 
to FHFA at [email protected] to ensure timely receipt by FHFA. 
Include the following information in the subject line of your 
submission: Comments/RIN 2590-AA83.
     Hand Delivered/Courier: The hand delivery address is: 
Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/RIN 2590-AA83, 
Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20219. Deliver the package at the Seventh Street 
entrance Guard Desk, First Floor, on business days between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m.
     U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or 
Other Mail Service: The mailing address for comments is: Alfred M. 
Pollard, General Counsel, Attention: Comments/RIN 2590-AA83, Federal 
Housing Finance Agency, Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20219. Please note that all mail sent to FHFA via U.S. 
Mail is routed through a national irradiation facility, a process that 
may delay delivery by approximately two weeks. For time-sensitive 
correspondence, please plan accordingly.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ted Wartell, Manager, Office of 
Housing and Community Investment, 202-649-3157, [email protected]; 
Marcea Barringer, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Housing and 
Community Investment, 202-649-3275, [email protected]; Marshall 
Adam Pecsek, Senior Counsel, Office of General Counsel, 202-649-3380, 
[email protected]; or Sharon Like, Managing Associate General 
Counsel, Office of General Counsel, 202-649-3057, [email protected]. 
These are not toll-free numbers. The mailing address is: Federal 
Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219. 
The telephone number for the Telecommunications Device for the Hearing 
Impaired is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments

    FHFA invites comments on all aspects of the March 2018 proposed 
rule, including any new or supplemental comments on the corrected 
calculation of the proposed regulatory outcome requirement, and will 
take all comments into consideration before issuing a final rule 
including those filed prior to this notice. Copies of all comments will 
be posted without change, including any personal information you 
provide such as your name, address, email address, and telephone 
number, on the FHFA website at http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies 
of all comments received will be available for examination by the 
public through the electronic rulemaking docket for this proposed rule 
also located on the FHFA website.

Background

    On March 14, 2018, FHFA published in the Federal Register a 
proposed rule to amend its regulation governing the Banks' AHP, located 
at 12 CFR part 1291. See 83 FR 11344. The proposed rule, among other 
things, would provide the Banks authority to design and implement their 
own project selection scoring criteria and award AHP funds, subject to 
meeting certain FHFA-prescribed outcome requirements. The proposed rule 
contains an inadvertent error in the calculation of the regulatory 
outcome requirement in proposed Sec.  1291.48(d), related rule text, 
and preamble discussions. The proposed rule states that: ``Each year, 
each Bank shall ensure that at least 55 percent of the Bank's required 
annual AHP contribution is awarded under the Bank's General Fund and 
any Bank Targeted Funds to projects that, in the aggregate, meet at 
least two of the three regulatory priorities in this paragraph . . . 
.'' See 83 FR 11361, 11386 (emphasis added).
    Under proposed Sec.  1291.48(d), as drafted in the proposed rule, 
any AHP funds awarded to a household participating in a Homeownership 
Set-Aside Program would not count towards fulfillment of the outcome 
requirement. Therefore, were a Bank to allocate the maximum amount 
permitted under the proposed rule to its Homeownership Set-Aside 
Program(s)--40 percent of its required annual AHP contribution--it 
would be required to ensure that nearly 92 percent of its remaining 
annual contribution be awarded to projects that satisfy, in the 
aggregate, two of the three identified regulatory priorities.
    While not all subsidies awarded under a Homeownership Set-Aside 
Program will meet one of the prioritized housing needs identified under 
the regulatory priorities in proposed Sec.  1291.48(d), some will, and 
FHFA believes that this should be reflected in the applicable outcome 
requirement.

Correction

    Proposed Sec.  1291.48(d), related rule text, and preamble 
discussions, therefore, should have included awards to households under 
a Bank's Homeownership Set-Aside Programs, if any, along with awards 
under the

[[Page 19189]]

Bank's General Fund and any Bank Targeted Funds, in the calculation of 
whether the Bank achieved the regulatory outcome requirement. That is, 
the Bank's awards under its General Fund and any Targeted Funds and 
Homeownership Set-Aside Programs would be included in the numerator, 
and the Bank's required annual AHP contribution amount would be 
included in the denominator of the calculation.
    Accordingly, in the proposed rule FR Doc. 2018-04745, on page 
11386, in the issue of March 14, 2018, in the left column, in paragraph 
(d) of Sec.  1291.48, the correction should correctly read: ``Each 
year, each Bank shall ensure that at least 55 percent of the Bank's 
required annual AHP contribution is awarded under the Bank's General 
Fund and any Bank Targeted Funds and Homeownership Set-Aside Programs 
to projects or households, as applicable, that, in the aggregate, meet 
at least two of the three regulatory priorities in this paragraph . . . 
.'' (emphasis added) If the corrected language is adopted in a final 
rule, FHFA will also make any other conforming revisions to the rule 
text as necessitated by the correction.
    FHFA specifically requests comments on whether the calculation, as 
corrected, would provide the Banks sufficient flexibility to provide 
AHP funds to the housing needs in their districts. FHFA further 
requests comments on whether other changes to the outcome calculation 
would be appropriate, such as decreasing the percentage of the Bank's 
annual AHP contribution required to meet the regulatory priorities to 
less than 55 percent, provided that at least a majority of the Bank's 
annual AHP contribution is awarded to certain regulatory priorities 
established by FHFA.\1\ FHFA also requests comments on whether adding a 
regulatory priority that is specifically focused on homeownership would 
increase opportunities for the Banks to include awards made in their 
Homeownership Set-Aside Programs towards meeting the regulatory 
priorities.
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    \1\ The Federal Home Loan Bank Act requires FHFA to establish 
priorities for the use of the AHP funds. 12 U.S.C. 1430(j)(9)(B).
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Extension of Comment Period

    The comment period for the proposed rule was originally set to 
expire on May 14, 2018. FHFA has received a number of requests from 
commenters for an extension of the comment period of varying lengths, 
with commenters citing the complexity and length of the proposed rule, 
the important issues addressed, and the high level of interest. In 
light of these requests, and FHFA's additional request for comment on 
the correction to the proposed outcome requirement calculation, FHFA is 
extending the comment period by an additional 30 days. This will result 
in a total comment period on the proposed rule of 90 days, expiring 
June 12, 2018.

    Dated: April 26, 2018.
Melvin L. Watt,
Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2018-09326 Filed 5-1-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P