In 2023 and 2024 the FHLBanks Delivered Increased Funding for Affordable Housing Programs
The affordable housing challenges and housing supply shortages in the United States have led to calls for the FHLBanks to do more and the FHLBank System listened. In response to feedback from stakeholders during FHFA’s FHLBank System at 100 review, the 11 FHLBanks committed to contributing an additional 50 percent of net earnings to affordable housing and community development, on top of the statutory AHP contributions required of the FHLBanks since 1990, and each of the 11 FHLBanks developed new voluntary spending programs.
Yet, even before the voluntary contributions and new programs, the FHLBanks had greatly expanded their affordable housing and community development initiatives in recent years. The figure above shows AHP contributions, annually and cumulatively, from 2003 through the first half of 2024. There are two striking features:
- The three “red” bars on the right are six-month AHP assessment totals for the first and second half of 2023 and the first half of 2024. The 20 blue bars are annual AHP assessment totals for 2003-2022. Strikingly, the six-month AHP totals in 2023 and 2024 are higher than 17 of the 20 annual totals from 2003 to 2022! An apples-to-apples comparison would require stacking the first two red bars (first half and second half of 2023) on top of each other, but that stacked bar would poke through the top of the figure and more than double the average height of the bars in the figure! [Note: totals in the figure are mandatory AHP assessments and do not include voluntary program contributions, which provided more than $310 million in additional funding during 2023 and the first half of 2024.]
- The gold horizontal line shows the six-month average AHP assessment amount from 2003-2022. This demonstrates how much more the FHLBanks have brought to the table in recentyears. The red six-month AHP assessment totals in 2023 and 2024 more than double theaverage six-month AHP assessments from 2003-2022. And, as noted above, this figure onlyincludes AHP statutory assessments. In 2023, the FHLBanks’ $180 million in voluntarycontributions by itself is 24 percent above the gold six-month average AHP assessment line,and 2024 voluntary contributions are on track to be even higher.
The figure shows that nearly $7 billion in cumulative AHP assessments were made between 2003 andthe first half of 2024. The FHLBanks expect to provide a single-year record $1 billion, or more, inAHP assessments and voluntary contributions in 2024 and look forward to continuing to work withtheir members and public and private sector partners to make homeownership and rental housingmore affordable for all American families.
