[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 160 (Friday, August 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51095-51098]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17938]


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FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY

[No. 2022-N-11]


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 or the 
Agency) 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 September 30, 2023.

DATES: Interested persons may submit comments on or before October 18, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to FHFA, identified by ``Proposed 
Collection; Comment Request: `Community Support Requirements, (No. 
2022-N-11)' '' 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, Office 
of General Counsel, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC 20219, 
ATTENTION: Proposed Collection; Comment Request: ``Community Support 
Requirements, (No. 2022-N-11).''
    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.
    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: Mike Price, Senior Policy Analyst, by 
email at [email protected], by telephone at (202) 649-3134; 
Tiffani Moore, Supervisory Policy Analyst, by email at 
[email protected], by telephone at (202) 649-3304; or Angela 
Supervielle, Counsel, by email at [email protected], by 
telephone at (202) 649-3973 (these are not toll-free numbers). For TTY/
TRS users with hearing and speech disabilities, dial 711 and ask to be 
connected to any of the contact numbers above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

1. Paperwork Reduction Act

    Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain 
approval from OMB for each collection of information they conduct or 
sponsor. ``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) 
and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) to include agency collection of information from 
ten or more persons. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of title 44 requires Federal 
agencies to provide a 60-day notice \1\ in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each 
proposed extension of an existing collection of information, before 
submitting the collection of information to OMB for approval. FHFA's 
collection of information set forth in this document is titled the 
``Community Support Requirements'' (assigned control number 2590-0005 
by OMB). To comply with the PRA requirement, FHFA is publishing notice 
of a proposed three-year extension of this collection of information.
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    \1\ Following the close of this notice's 60-day comment period, 
FHFA will publish a second notice with a 30-day comment period as 
required by 44 U.S.C. 3507(b) and 5 CFR 1320.10(a).
    \2\ 12 U.S.C. 1430(g)(1).
    \3\ For purposes of the community support requirements, a long-
term advance is an advance with a term of maturity greater than one 
year. 12 CFR 1290.1 (definition of ``long-term advance'').
    \4\ See 12 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.
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2. Community Support Requirements

    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.2 3 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) \4\ and record of lending to first-

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time homebuyers.\5\ 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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    \5\ 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 statutory and regulatory community support 
standards.\6\ 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 Form 060, a member 
that is subject to the CRA must record its most recent CRA rating and 
the year of that rating. Part II of Form 060 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. A copy of the current 
Form 060 and related instructions appear at the end of this Notice.
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    \6\ 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 Form 060 is 
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 the Bank 
Affordable Housing Programs (AHP), Community Investment Programs (CIP), 
and Community Investment Cash Advance (CICA) programs for failure to 
meet the community support requirements.\7\ Part 1290 permits Bank 
members whose access to long-term advances has been restricted to apply 
directly to FHFA to remove the restriction.\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 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 the Bank 
AHP, CIP, and CICA programs.
    The OMB control number for this information collection is 2590-
0005, which is due to expire on September 30, 2023. The respondents are 
Bank member institutions.

C. Burden Estimate

    FHFA has analyzed the two facets of this information collection 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 2,094 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 6,600 Bank members. With exceptions, most 
Bank members must submit a Community Support Statement biennially. Non-
depository community development financial institution (CDFI) Bank 
members are exempt from filing. At the end of 2021, there were 68 non-
depository CDFI Bank members. Bank members who have been Bank members 
for less than one year as of March 31 of the year the submission is 
required are also exempt from filing. The Banks have added, on average, 
118 new members per year over the last three years. FHFA arrives at a 
total estimate of about 6,414 respondents required to file each cycle 
(6,600 total members minus (68 non-depository CDFI members + 118 exempt 
new members biennially)). Under the Community Support biennial review 
cycle, members submit Community Support Statements every other year. 
Accordingly, FHFA estimates that the total number of respondents per 
year is about 3,207 (half of 6,414).
    FHFA estimates that the average preparation and submission time for 
each Community Support Statement is 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, 
therefore, 2,085 hours (3,207 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 prepare and 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 Bank members in connection with the preparation and 
submission of requests to remove a restriction on access to long-term 
advances is, therefore, 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.
BILLING CODE 8070-01-P

Shawn Bucholtz,
Chief Data Officer, Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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[FR Doc. 2022-17938 Filed 8-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8070-01-C