[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3680-3683]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00933]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2020-N-3]


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 (PRA), the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is seeking 
public comments concerning an information collection known as 
``Community Support Requirements,'' which has been 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 three-year extension of the control number, which is due 
to expire on March 31, 2020.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before March 23, 
2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: `Community Support Requirements, (No. 
2020-N-3)' '' by any 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 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. 
2020-N-3).''
    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 website at 
http://www.fhfa.gov. In addition, copies of all comments received will 
be available for examination by the public through the electronic 
comment docket for this PRA Notice also located on the FHFA website.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deattra D. Perkins, Senior Policy 
Analyst, Division of Housing Mission & Goals, [email protected], 
(202) 649-3133; or Eric Raudenbush, Associate General Counsel, 
[email protected], (202) 649-3084, (these are not toll-free 
numbers), Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20219. The Telecommunications Device for the Deaf is 
(800) 877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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A. Background

    The Federal Home Loan Bank System (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.'' 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.
    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).\1\ 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) \2\ and 
record of lending to first-time homebuyers.\3\ 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\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1).
    \2\ 12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.
    \3\ See 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(2).
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    Part 1290 requires that each Bank member subject to community 
support review 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.\4\ Members are 
strongly encouraged to complete and submit Form 060 online, but may 
submit a version via email or fax if they cannot complete the 
submission online. 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 current Form and related instructions 
appear at the end of this Notice.
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    \4\ See 12 CFR 1290.2. Non-depository community development 
financial institutions and institutions that have been Bank members 
for less than one year as of March 31 of the year the forms are due 
are not required to submit Form 060.
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    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.\5\ 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.\6\
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    \5\ See 12 CFR 1290.5(b), (e).
    \6\ 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.
    The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0005, which is due to expire on March 31, 2020. The respondents are 
Bank member institutions.

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 
2,154 hours. The method FHFA used to determine the annual hour burden 
for each facet of the information collection is explained in detail 
below.

1. Community Support Statements

    There are currently about 6,800 Bank members. Most of these are 
required to submit a completed Community Support Statement biennially, 
with members that are non-depository community development financial 
institutions (CDFIs) or that have been members for less than one year 
as of March 31st of the year submission is required exempted from the 
submission requirement. Based on the facts that there were 60 non-
depository CDFI Bank members as of September 30, 2019, and that the 
average annual number of new Bank members system-wide was about 140 
over the last three years, FHFA estimates that about 6,600 members will 
be required to submit the biennial statement over each of the next 
several cycles, which corresponds to an annual average of 3,300 
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 2,145 
hours (3,300 Statements x 0.65 hours).

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

    FHFA estimates that an annual average of 12 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 9 hours (12 
requests x 0.75 hours).

D. Comment 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 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 respondents, including 
through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology.

    Dated: January 15, 2020.
Kevin Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-P

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[FR Doc. 2020-00933 Filed 1-21-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8070-01-C