[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 229 (Tuesday, November 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 85958-85961]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28707]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2016-N-12]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

[[Page 85959]]


ACTION: 30-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 or the Agency) is 
seeking public comments concerning the information collection known as 
the ``Affordable Housing Program,'' which has been assigned control 
number 2590-0007 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). FHFA 
intends to submit the information collection to OMB for review and 
approval of a three-year extension of the control number, which is due 
to expire on November 30, 2016.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before December 29, 
2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer 
for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 
(202) 395-3047, Email: [email protected]. Please also submit 
comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed Collection; Comment Request: 
`Affordable Housing Program, (No. 2016-N-12)' '' 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: ``Affordable Housing Program, 
(No. 2016-N-12)''.
     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/2016-N-12, Federal 
Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Eighth Floor, 
Washington, DC 20219.
    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

    The Federal Home Loan Bank System consists of eleven regional 
Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks) and the Office of Finance (a joint 
office of the Banks that issues and services their debt securities). 
The Banks are wholesale financial institutions, organized under 
authority of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to serve the 
public interest by enhancing the availability of residential housing 
finance and community lending credit through their member institutions 
and, to a limited extent, through eligible non-member ``housing 
associates.'' \1\ Each Bank is structured as a regional cooperative 
that is owned and controlled by member financial institutions located 
within its district, which are also its primary customers.
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    \1\ Certain non-member entities are permitted by statute to 
engage in limited business activities with a Bank. See 12 U.S.C. 
1430b. FHFA's regulations refer to these entities as ``housing 
associates.'' See 12 CFR part 1264.
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    Section 10(j) of the Bank Act requires FHFA to promulgate 
regulations under which each of the eleven Banks must establish an 
Affordable Housing Program (AHP) to provide subsidy to the Bank's 
member institutions to: (1) Finance homeownership by households with 
incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income (low- or 
moderate-income households); and (2) to finance the purchase, 
construction, or rehabilitation of rental housing in which at least 20 
percent of the units will be occupied by and affordable for households 
earning 50 percent or less of the area median income (very low-income 
households).\2\ Section 10(j) also establishes standards and 
requirements for providing such subsidized funding to Bank members and 
requires each Bank to contribute 10 percent of its previous year's net 
earnings to its AHP annually, subject to a minimum annual combined 
contribution by the eleven Banks of $100 million.\3\
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    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(j)(1) and (2).
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(j)(5)(C).
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    FHFA's AHP regulation, which implements the statutory AHP 
requirements, is located at 12 CFR part 1291. The regulation requires 
that each Bank establish and fund an AHP and sets forth the parameters 
within which the Banks' programs must operate. The regulation permits 
the Banks a degree of discretion in determining how their individual 
programs are to be implemented and requires that each Bank adopt an AHP 
Implementation Plan setting forth the specific requirements for that 
Bank's program.\4\
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    \4\ See 12 CFR 1291.3.
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Competitive Application Programs

    The AHP regulation requires each Bank to establish a competitive 
application program under which the Bank accepts applications for AHP 
subsidized advances or direct subsidies (grants) submitted by its 
members on behalf of non-member entities having a significant 
connection to the projects for which subsidy is being sought (project 
sponsors).\5\ Each Bank accepts applications for AHP subsidy under its 
competitive application program during a specified number of funding 
periods each year, as determined by the Bank.\6\ A Bank must determine 
for each application it receives whether the proposed project meets the 
AHP regulatory eligibility requirements.\7\ The Bank must score each 
application according to AHP regulatory and Bank-specific scoring 
guidelines, and approve the highest scoring projects within that 
funding period for AHP subsidy.\8\
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    \5\ See 12 CFR 1291.5. Under the regulation, an AHP project 
sponsor may be an entity that either: (1) Has an ownership interest 
in a rental project; (2) is integrally involved in an owner-occupied 
project, such as by exercising control over the planning, 
development, or management of the project, or by qualifying 
borrowers and providing or arranging financing for the owners of the 
units; (3) operates a loan pool; or (4) is a revolving loan fund. 12 
CFR 1291.1 (definition of ``sponsor'').
    \6\ See 12 CFR 1291.5(b)(1).
    \7\ See 12 CFR 1291.5(c).
    \8\ See 12 CFR 1291.5(d).
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    The regulation provides that, prior to each disbursement of AHP 
subsidy for a project approved under a Bank's competitive application 
program, the Bank must confirm that the project continues to meet the 
AHP regulatory

[[Page 85960]]

eligibility requirements, as well as all commitments made in the 
approved AHP application.\9\ As part of this process, Banks typically 
require that the member and project sponsor provide documentation 
demonstrating continuing compliance.
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    \9\ See 12 CFR 1291.5(g)(3).
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    The regulation permits a Bank to approve a modification to the 
terms of an approved application that would change the score that the 
application received in the funding period in which it was originally 
scored and approved, had the changed facts been operative at that time. 
To approve a modification: (i) The project, incorporating the changes, 
must continue to meet the regulatory eligibility requirements; (ii) the 
application, as reflective of the changes, must continue to score high 
enough to have been approved in the funding period in which it was 
originally scored and approved; and (iii) there must be good cause for 
the modification, and the analysis and justification for the 
modification must be documented by the Bank in writing.\10\ Banks 
typically require the member and project sponsor requesting a 
modification to provide a written analysis and justification as part of 
their modification request.
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    \10\ See 12 CFR 1291.5(f).
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    The regulation requires generally that a Bank monitor each owner-
occupied and rental project receiving AHP subsidy under its competitive 
application program prior to and after project completion. For initial 
monitoring, a Bank must determine whether the project is making 
satisfactory progress towards completion, in compliance with the 
commitments made in the approved application, Bank policies, and the 
AHP regulatory requirements. Following project completion, the Bank 
must determine whether satisfactory progress is being made towards 
occupancy of the project by eligible households, and whether the 
project meets the regulatory requirements and the commitments made in 
the approved application.\11\ For long-term monitoring of rental 
projects, subject to certain exceptions in the AHP regulation, the Bank 
must determine whether, during the 15-year retention period, the 
household incomes and rents comply with the income targeting and rent 
commitments made in the approved application.\12\ For both the initial 
and long-term monitoring, a Bank must review appropriate documentation 
maintained by the project sponsor.
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    \11\ See 12 CFR 1291.7(a)(1).
    \12\ See 12 CFR 1291.7(a)(4).
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Homeownership Set-Aside Programs

    The AHP regulation also authorizes each Bank, in its discretion, to 
allocate up to the greater of $4.5 million or 35 percent of its annual 
required AHP contribution to establish homeownership set-aside programs 
for the purpose of promoting homeownership for low- or moderate-income 
households.\13\ Under these homeownership set-aside programs, a Bank 
may provide to its members AHP direct subsidies, which are to be 
provided by the members to eligible households as a grant to pay for 
down payment, closing cost, counseling cost or rehabilitation 
assistance in connection with the household's purchase of a primary 
residence or rehabilitation of an owner-occupied residence.\14\ Prior 
to the Bank's disbursement of a direct subsidy under its homeownership 
set-aside program, the member must provide a certification that the 
subsidy will be provided in compliance with all applicable regulatory 
eligibility requirements.\15\
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    \13\ See 12 CFR 1291.2(b)(2); 1291.6.
    \14\ See 12 CFR 1291.6(c)(4).
    \15\ See 12 CFR 1291.7(b)(2).
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AHP Information Submitted by Banks to FHFA

    FHFA's Data Reporting Manual (DRM) requires each Bank to submit to 
FHFA aggregate AHP information.\16\ The DRM requires each Bank to 
submit to FHFA project-level information regarding its competitive 
application program and household-level information regarding its 
homeownership set-aside program semi-annually. The information the 
Banks are required to submit to FHFA under the DRM is derived from the 
documentation submitted by Bank members and project sponsors that is 
described above.
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    \16\ The AHP reporting requirements are located in chapter 5 of 
the DRM, which is available electronically on FHFA's public Web site 
at http://www.fhfa.gov/SupervisionRegulation/FederalHomeLoanBanks/Documents/FHFB-Resolutions/2006/2006-13-Attachment.pdf.
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B. Need for and Use of the Information Collection

    The Banks use the information collected under part 1291 to 
determine whether: (1) Projects for which Bank members and project 
sponsors are seeking subsidies under the Banks' competitive application 
programs satisfy the applicable statutory and regulatory requirements 
and score highly enough in comparison with other applications submitted 
during the same funding period to be approved for AHP subsidies; (2) 
projects approved under the Banks' competitive application programs 
continue to meet the applicable requirements and to comply with the 
commitments made in the approved applications each time subsidy is 
disbursed; (3) requests for modifications of projects approved under 
the Banks' competitive application programs meet the regulatory 
requirements for approval; (4) projects approved under the Banks' 
competitive application programs are making satisfactory progress 
towards completion, and following project completion, are making 
satisfactory progress towards occupancy of the project by eligible 
households, in compliance with the commitments made in the approved 
applications, Bank policies, and the regulatory requirements (initial 
monitoring); (5) during the 15-year retention period, completed rental 
projects continue to comply with the household income targeting and 
rent commitments made in the approved applications (long-term 
monitoring); and (6) applications for direct subsidy under Banks' 
homeownership set-aside programs were approved, and the direct 
subsidies disbursed, in accordance with the regulatory requirements.
    FHFA uses the information required to be submitted by the Banks 
under the DRM to verify that the Banks' funding decisions, and the use 
of the funds awarded, were consistent with statutory and regulatory 
requirements.
    The OMB control number for the information collection is 2590-0007. 
The current clearance expires on November 30, 2016. The likely 
respondents are institutions that are Bank members and non-member 
entities that sponsor an AHP project.

C. Burden Estimate

    FHFA has analyzed each of the six facets of this information 
collection in order to estimate the hour burdens that the collection 
will impose upon Bank members and AHP project sponsors annually over 
the next three years. Based on that analysis, FHFA estimates that the 
total annual hour burden will be 115,750. The method FHFA used to 
determine the annual hour burden for each facet of the information 
collection is explained in detail below.

I. AHP Competitive Applications

    FHFA estimates that Bank members, on behalf of project sponsors, 
will submit to the Banks an annual average of 1,350 applications for 
AHP subsidies under the Banks' competitive application programs and 
that the average preparation time for each application will be 24 
hours. The estimate for the total annual hour

[[Page 85961]]

burden on members and project sponsors in connection with the 
preparation and submission of AHP competitive applications is 32,400 
hours (1,350 applications x 24 hours).

II. Compliance Submissions for Approved Competitive Application 
Projects at AHP Subsidy Disbursement

    FHFA estimates that Bank members, on behalf of project sponsors, 
will make an annual average of 700 submissions to the Banks documenting 
that projects approved under the Banks' competitive application 
programs continue to comply with the regulatory eligibility 
requirements and all commitments made in the approved applications at 
the time each AHP subsidy is disbursed, and that the average 
preparation time for each submission will be 1 hour. The estimate for 
the total annual hour burden on members and project sponsors in 
connection with the preparation and submission of these compliance 
submissions is 700 hours (700 submissions x 1 hour).

III. Modification Requests for Approved Competitive Application 
Projects

    FHFA estimates that Bank members, on behalf of project sponsors, 
will submit to the Banks an annual average of 300 requests for 
modifications to projects that have been approved under the Banks' 
competitive application programs, and that the average preparation time 
for each request will be 2.5 hours. The estimate for the total annual 
hour burden on members and project sponsors in connection with the 
preparation and submission of these modification requests is 750 hours 
(300 requests x 2.5 hours).

IV. Initial Monitoring Submissions for Approved Competitive Application 
Projects

    FHFA estimates that project sponsors will make an annual average of 
500 submissions of documentation to the Banks for purposes of the 
Banks' initial monitoring of in-progress and recently completed 
projects approved under their competitive application programs, and 
that the average preparation time for each submission will be 5 hours. 
The estimate for the total annual hour burden on project sponsors in 
connection with the preparation and submission of documentation 
required for initial monitoring of competitive application projects is 
2,500 hours (500 submissions x 5 hours).

V. Long-Term Monitoring Submissions for Approved Competitive 
Application Program Projects

    FHFA estimates that project sponsors will make an annual average of 
4,800 submissions of documentation to the Banks for purposes of the 
Banks' long-term monitoring of completed projects approved under their 
competitive application programs, and that the average preparation time 
for each submission will be 3 hours. The estimate for the total annual 
hour burden on project sponsors in connection with the preparation and 
submission of documentation required for long-term monitoring of 
competitive application projects is 14,400 hours (4,800 submissions x 3 
hours).

VI. Homeownership Set-Aside Program Applications and Certifications

    FHFA estimates that Bank members will submit to the Banks an annual 
average of 13,000 applications and required certifications for AHP 
direct subsidies under the Banks' homeownership set-aside programs, and 
that the average preparation time for those submissions together will 
be 5 hours. The estimate for the total annual hour burden on members in 
connection with the preparation and submission of homeownership set-
aside program applications and certifications is 65,000 hours (13,000 
applications/certifications x 5 hours).

D. Comment Request

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA 
published an initial notice requesting comments regarding this 
information collection in the Federal Register on September 23, 
2016.\17\ The 60-day comment period closed on September 22, 2016. No 
comments were received.
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    \17\ See 81 FR 65648 (Sept. 23, 2016).
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    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.10(a), FHFA is 
publishing this second notice to request comments regarding 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 FHFA's 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 members 
and project sponsors, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments should be 
submitted in writing to both OMB and FHFA as instructed above in the 
COMMENTS section.

    Dated: November 23, 2016.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
[FR Doc. 2016-28707 Filed 11-28-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-P