Affordable Housing Program

Our Affordable Housing Program (AHP) provides grants to assist in the purchase, construction, or rehabilitation of housing for lower income households. All grants are funded through our members to affordable housing sponsors or developers or directly to homebuyers in the form of grants or below-market rate loans. Since 1990, we have awarded $473 million in AHP grants to support the development, rehabilitation or purchase of approximately 81,000 affordable homes in Arizona, California, Nevada, and other localities served by our member financial institutions.

Competitive AHP
We allocate at least 65% of our annual AHP funds to our competitive AHP. Working in partnership with community-based housing sponsors, members submit applications for specific homeownership and rental projects and programs in the twice-a-year competition for funds. These member financial institutions often provide direct financing to the initiatives, leveraging funds provided by other public and private sources. The resulting housing initiatives are remarkable for their innovative solutions to diverse housing needs.

Homeownership Set-Aside Programs
We allocate up to 35% of our annual AHP funds to our homeownership set-aside programs— the Individual Development and Empowerment Account (IDEA) Program and the Workforce Initiative Subsidy for Homeownership (WISH) Program. Both programs provide up to $15,000 per eligible household for downpayment and closing cost assistance, matching up to $3 for every dollar contributed by the homebuyer.

The IDEA Program awards AHP dollars through participating member financial institutions to assist qualified homebuyers who have saved in an Individual Development Account (IDA) or who have successfully participated through their local housing authority in a Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program leading to homeownership. The WISH Program is designed to help working households living in high-cost areas purchase homes near their work. To qualify, homebuyers must participate in a mortgage assistance program.

Member Investment in AHP
To fund the AHP, our members forego approximately 10% of the Bank’s annual earnings, which otherwise could have been paid to them in the form of dividends. The Bank estimates that its members invested $60.7 million to fund the AHP in 2006. Here is a breakdown of those contributions by state and charter type:

	Arizona	California	Nevada	Other	Total
Commercial Banks	$333,433	$9,516,735	$14,601,683	$169,774	$24,621,625
Credit Unions	162,750	1,792,562	21,621	--	1,976,933
Insurance Companies	13,064	217,263	--	--	230,327
Savings Institutions	21,133	15,994,342	16,777,253	--	32,792,729
Thrift & Loans	--	1,071,465	16,652	--	1,088,117
Total	$530,380	$28,592,367	$31,417,210	$169,774	$60,709,731