[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 62 (Tuesday, March 31, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17883-17886]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-06683]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2020-N-7]


Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance Agency.

ACTION: Community Support Requirements--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 (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 April 30, 
2020.

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. 2020-N-7)' '' 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-7).''
    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: 

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 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). By regulation, FHFA has defined 
``long-term'' advances to be those with an original term to maturity 
greater than five years. See 12 CFR 1266.1.
    \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\

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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 
1,950 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

    Most Bank members 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. There are 
currently about 6,700 Bank members. Considering that about 60 of those 
are non-depository CDFIs and that the System has experienced a 
consistent net loss of about 100 to 200 Bank members annually over a 
period of years, FHFA estimates that an average of about 6,400 members 
will be required to submit the biennial statement over each of the next 
several cycles, which corresponds to an annual average of 3,200 
respondents. FHFA estimates that the average preparation time for each 
Community Support Statement will be 0.6 hours. The estimate for the 
total annual hour burden on Bank members in connection with the 
preparation and submission of Community Support Statements is 1,920 
hours (3,200 Statements x 0.6 hours).

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

    FHFA estimates that an annual average of 50 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 0.6 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 30 hours (50 
requests x 0.6 hours).

D. Comment Request

    In accordance with the requirements of 5 CFR 1320.8(d), FHFA 
published an initial notice and request for public comments regarding 
this information collection in the Federal Register on January 22, 
2020.\7\ The 60-day comment period closed on March 23, 2020. FHFA 
received no comments.
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    \7\ See 85 FR 3680 (Jan. 22, 2020).
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    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.

Robert Winkler,
Chief Information Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P

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[FR Doc. 2020-06683 Filed 3-30-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C