[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 11, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3320-3324]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00435]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2017-N-01]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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 
``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 February 10, 
2017.

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: 
`Community Support Requirements, (No. 2017-N-01)' '' 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.
     Courier/Hand Delivery, U.S. Mail, United Parcel Service, 
Federal Express, or Other Mail Service: The mailing address for 
comments is: Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel, Federal Housing 
Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW., Eighth Floor, Washington, DC 
20219. Courier/Hand Delivery packages must be delivered on business 
days between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
    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(g)(1) of the Bank Act requires the Director of FHFA to 
promulgate regulations establishing standards of community investment 
or service that Bank member institutions must meet in order to maintain 
access to long-term advances (i.e., loans with a maturity of five years 
or greater made by a Bank to a member).\2\ 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)\3\ and 
record of lending to first-time homebuyers.\4\ 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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    \2\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1).
    \3\ 12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.
    \4\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(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.\5\ 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

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completed Form 060 at approximately the same time every two years.\6\
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    \5\ See 12 CFR 1290.2(b).
    \6\ See 12 CFR 1290.2(a).
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    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 and to Affordable 
Housing Program (AHP), Community Investment Program (CIP) and Community 
Investment Cash Advance (CICA) programs for failure to meet the 
community support requirements.\7\ 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.\8\
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    \7\ See 12 CFR 1290.5(b), (e).
    \8\ See 12 CFR 1290.5(d).
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B. Need for and Use of the Information Collection

    FHFA uses the information collection contained in FHFA Form 060 and 
part 1290 to determine whether Bank members satisfy the statutory and 
regulatory community support requirements and to ensure that, as 
required by statute and regulation, only Bank members that meet those 
requirements maintain continued access to long-term Bank advances and 
to AHP, CIP, and CICA programs.

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 
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 Bank 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 and to AHP, CIP, and CICA programs 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. 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.\9\ The 60 day comment period closed on November 22, 2016. No 
comments were received.
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    \9\ See 81 FR 65645 (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: January 5, 2017.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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[FR Doc. 2017-00435 Filed 1-10-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-70-P