[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 185 (Friday, September 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65645-65648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-22930]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2016-N-08]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: 60-day notice of submission of information collection for 
approval from Office of Management and Budget.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking 
public comments concerning an expired information collection known as 
``Community Support Requirements,'' which was assigned control number 
2590-0005 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FHFA intends to 
submit the information collection to OMB for review and approval of a 
reinstatement of the control number, which expired on February 29, 
2016, for a period of three years.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before November 22, 
2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: `Community Support Requirements, (No. 
2016-N-08)' '' by any of the following methods:
     Agency Web site: 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 the agency.
     Mail/Hand Delivery: Federal Housing Finance Agency, Eighth 
Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20219, ATTENTION: 
Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ``Community Support Requirements, 
(No. 2016-N-08)''.
    We will post all public comments we receive without change, 
including any personal information you provide, such as your name and 
address, email address, and telephone number, on the FHFA Web site at 
http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will 
be available for examination by the public on business days between the 
hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, 
Eighth Floor, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20219. To make an 
appointment to inspect comments, please call the Office of General 
Counsel at (202) 649-3804.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deattra D. Perkins, Senior Policy 
Analyst, Division of Housing Mission & Goals, [email protected], 
(202) 649-3133; or Sylvia C. Martinez, Manager, Federal Home Loan Bank 
Housing and Community Investment Programs, Division of Housing Mission 
& Goals, [email protected], (202) 649-3301 (these are not toll-
free numbers); Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the Hearing 
Impaired is (800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background

    Section 10(g)(1) of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) 
requires the Director of FHFA to promulgate regulations establishing 
standards of community investment or service that Federal Home Loan 
Bank (Bank) member institutions must meet in order to maintain access 
to long-term Bank advances. Section 10(g)(2) of the Bank Act requires 
that, in establishing these community support requirements for Bank 
members, FHFA take into account factors such as the member's 
performance under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) and 
record of lending to first-time homebuyers.\1\ FHFA's community support 
regulation, which establishes standards and review criteria for 
determining compliance with section 10(g) of the Bank Act, is set forth 
at 12 CFR part 1290.
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    \1\ 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1), (2).
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    Part 1290 requires that each Bank member submit to FHFA biennially 
a completed Community Support Statement (Form 060), which contains 
several short questions the answers to which are used by FHFA to assess 
the responding member's compliance with the community support 
standards. Previously, this was accomplished by requiring approximately 
one-eighth of all members to submit a completed Form in each calendar 
quarter of a two-year review cycle. Under new streamlined procedures 
that FHFA is in the process of implementing, all members subject to 
community support review will be required to submit a completed Form 
060 at approximately the same time every two years.
    FHFA has revised Form 060 to reflect the new streamlined 
procedures. These revisions reduce slightly the number of questions on 
the Form and modify the formatting so that members will be able to 
complete and submit the Form online. In substance, the revised Form 060 
is materially the same as the existing Form. In part I of the Form, a 
member that is subject to the CRA must record its most recent CRA 
rating and the year of that rating. Part II of the Form addresses a 
member's efforts to assist first-time homebuyers. A member may either 
record the number and dollar amount of mortgage loans made to first-
time homebuyers in the previous or current calendar year (part II.A), 
or indicate the types of programs or activities it has undertaken to 
assist first-time homebuyers by checking selections from a list (part 
II.B), or do both. If a member has received a CRA rating of 
``Outstanding,'' it need not complete part II of the Form. A copy of 
the revised Form and related instructions appear at the end of this 
Notice.
    Part 1290 also establishes the circumstances under which FHFA will 
restrict a member's access to long-term Bank advances for failure to 
meet the community support requirements. It permits Bank members whose 
access to long-term advances has been restricted to apply directly to 
FHFA to remove the restriction if certain criteria are met.
    The OMB control number for the information collection contained in 
Form 060 and part 1290 is 2590-0005. The OMB clearance for this control 
number expired on February 29, 2016. The respondents are institutions 
that are Bank members.

[[Page 65646]]

B. Need for and Use of the Information Collection

    This information collection is necessary to enable FHFA to 
determine whether Bank members satisfy the statutory and regulatory 
community support requirements and to ensure that, as required by 
statute, only Bank members that meet those requirements maintain 
continued access to long-term Bank advances.\2\
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    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1).
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C. Burden Estimate

    FHFA has analyzed the two facets of this information collection in 
order to estimate the hour burdens that the collection will impose upon 
Bank members annually over the next three years. Based on that 
analysis, FHFA estimates that the total annual hour burden will be 
2,287 hours. The method FHFA used to determine the annual hour burden 
and associated cost for each facet of the information collection is 
explained in detail below.

I. Community Support Statements

    FHFA estimates that, on average over the next several years, 7,000 
Bank members will be required to submit completed Community Support 
Statements biennially. This corresponds to an annual average of 3,500 
respondents. FHFA estimates that the average preparation time for each 
Community Support Statement will be 0.65 hours. The estimate for the 
total annual hour burden on members in connection with the preparation 
and submission of Community Support Statements is 2,275 hours (3,500 
Statements x 0.65 hours).

II. Requests To Remove a Restriction on Access to Long-Term Advances

    FHFA estimates that an annual average of 16 Bank members whose 
access to long-term advances has been restricted will submit requests 
to FHFA to remove those restrictions, and that the average preparation 
time for each request will be 0.75 hours. The estimate for the total 
annual hour burden on members in connection with the preparation and 
submission of requests to remove a restriction on access to long-term 
advances is 12 hours (16 requests x 0.75 hours).

D. Public Comments Request

    FHFA requests written comments on the following: (1) Whether the 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
FHFA functions, including whether the information has practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the FHFA estimates of the burdens of the 
collection of information; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, 
and clarity of the information collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 
burden of the collection of information on respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

    Dated: September 20, 2016.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P

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[FR Doc. 2016-22930 Filed 9-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-C