FHLBanks Are One of the Largest Private Affordable Housing Grant Providers in the U.S., Delivering More Than $8 billion in Funding Since 1990

/EIN News/ -- SAN FRANCISCO, July 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBank San Francisco) today announced $61.8 million in Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grants have been awarded to fund 59 projects that will create nearly 4,000 units of affordable housing throughout Arizona, California, and Nevada. Since 1990, FHLBank San Francisco has awarded $1.3 billion in AHP grants for the construction, preservation, or purchase of 154,000 units of housing. Collectively the Federal Home Loan Bank System is one of the largest private sources of affordable housing funding in the nation.

This amount of FHLBank San Francisco’s funding for this year's AHP grant cycle represents an extraordinary 88% increase over last year’s funding and underscores FHLBank San Francisco’s continued commitment to fulfilling its mission to support affordable housing throughout its region. Each year, FHLBank San Francisco allocates up to 15% of its net profits from the prior year to fund affordable housing, homeownership, and economic development grant programs.

"I am proud of the crucial investments FHLBank San Francisco is making in affordable housing across Arizona, California and Nevada – some of the most economically, geographically and culturally diverse states in America,” said Alanna McCargo, president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco. “The affordable housing crisis affects countless families and individuals living in urban, populous cities, rural, tribal communities, and many places in between. We are pleased to be able to nearly double the amount of grant funding this year, in partnership with our members, to 59 critically needed projects across the region. They will have a meaningful impact on mitigating the affordable housing crisis, increasing the housing supply and providing much needed help for those in need.”

According to The Gap 2024, a yearly report compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s, the U.S. is experiencing a significant affordable housing shortfall, with only 34 affordable rental homes available for every 100 extremely low-income households nationwide. Within the FHLBank San Francisco’s region of Arizona, California, and Nevada, this shortfall is exacerbated. Arizona and California have only 24 affordable and available homes, per 100 households. Nevada is even more challenged with just 14 affordable homes per 100 households. To address the dire need in Nevada, FHLBank San Francisco launched the Nevada Targeted Fund, a first-of-its-kind program in 2023, in collaboration with U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.). Last month, the Bank announced that the Nevada Targeted Fund grants nearly doubled in the program’s second year.

AHP General Fund and Nevada Targeted Fund grants help finance the development, preservation, and purchase of multifamily and single-family housing for people in need, including the chronically unhoused, low-income families, seniors, veterans, at-risk youth, and people living with disabilities and mental health challenges or overcoming substance abuse. Grants are delivered through FHLBank San Francisco member institutions partnering with nonprofits and affordable housing developers to submit applications for grants for specific projects in an annual funding competition. This year’s grants will be delivered by 25 different members, including six community development financial institutions. AHP-funded projects represent a wide range of strategies and solutions, from historic preservation and adaptive reuse to new construction and rehabilitation. A few notable examples of projects awarded grants in the 2024 funding competition include:

• This year, over $3 million has been awarded to four projects that construct affordable units on properties held in Community Land Trusts. These dwellings will ensure the units remain affordable not just for their initial residents, but for future generations, through the stewardship of Community Land Trusts.
  
• In an effort to reduce use of new materials, five projects will repurpose existing structures, transforming a historic YWCA recreational center, a community health center, two motels, a medical facility, and a school into new affordable housing.
  
• Three tribal projects, two in Nevada and one in Arizona, received AHP awards totaling $3.5 million create 87 units of affordable housing. Residents of these affordable housing developments will include seniors and low-income families who can receive supportive services onsite.
  

Where AHP projects are developed, local economies also get a boost, as these projects create jobs, increase construction and consumer spending, and generate new tax revenues. Learn more about the communities, families, and individuals that have benefited from access to AHP-funded housing on the Bank’s website. The complete list of 2024 AHP grant winners is available on fhlbsf.com.

About the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California, and Nevada build strong communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutions — commercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutions — propel homeownership, finance quality affordable housing, drive economic vitality, and revitalize whole neighborhoods. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable, and resilient.

Contact:
Chris Hammond
hammondc@fhlbsf.com
415-521-0255