Comment Detail

Comment

June 7, 2024
Federal Housing Finance Agency
400 7th Street SW
Washington, DC 20219

Re: Request for Input: FHLB Core Mission Activities and Mission Achievement

Organization Background
The Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC) is a national Native-led nonprofit that works with tribes and partners interested in establishing asset-building initiatives and programs in Native communities, for the purpose of creating greater opportunities for economic self-sufficiency of tribal citizens. Started in 2001, ONAC is an intermediary funder, grassroots network coordinator, and also a direct service provider that works with Native families to build their assets through ONAC’s provision of Native-specific financial education and financial coaching, as well as funding of Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs), emergency savings accounts (ESAs), down payment assistance, incentivized Bank On accounts, and emergency cash assistance. ONAC will soon launch a revolving loan fund.

The mission of the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition (ONAC) is to build and support a network of Native people who are dedicated to increasing self-sufficiency and prosperity in their communities through the establishment of integrated culturally-relevant financial education and financial coaching initiatives, as well as seed-funded account programs, down payment assistance, free tax preparation, expanded banking access, and other asset-building strategies.

ONAC, while keeping its name, works with tribal citizens across the country regardless of where they reside. For the past several years, ONAC has administered a down payment assistance program. To date, ONAC has provided down payment assistance to 91 participants. ONAC’s DPA program is fair housing compliant. It happens that the majority of the participants are American Indian from various Native Nations. Of the 91 participants, to date, ONAC has been reimbursed with FHLB Topeka AHP funding for 66 of the DPA clients we provided DPA for during the past few years. ONAC used discretionary funding and funding from individual donors for the DPA for the other 25 families we have served that may not have met AHP income limits and other eligibility criteria.

Requests for adjustments to how the FHFA and FHLB determines who qualifies to apply for FHLB Native American Housing Initiatives Grants Programs: Currently, it is our understanding that the FHLB Topeka and other FHLB districts are requiring that their funding for their Native American Housing Initiatives Grants only be granted to Native American tribes and tribally designated housing entities (TDHEs). This eliminates Native nonprofits who are in the Native housing ecosystem from also applying for funding. Entities, such as ONAC, are Native-led and staffed 501c(3)s serving Native communities across the country. Given the limitations imposed by FHFA and the FHLB districts, ONAC is unable to apply for funding, even though ONAC is a national Native nonprofit providing DPA and other related asset-building services. This limitation of eligible applicants implies a lack of understanding about which entities are on the ground providing DPA and other necessary empowerment housing services such as homebuyer education, financial coaching, Native-specific financial education, as well as Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, banking access incentives, emergency savings accounts, and incentives for those building and repairing credit and preparing for homeownership. ONAC requests that this oversight about eligible entities be rectified to equitably and accurately include all those in the Native housing ecosystem, including entities such as ONAC that also provide empowerment housing services to federally recognized tribal members. Currently, ONAC is unable to apply for the $3.6 million set aside for Native housing initiatives by the FHLB Topeka as well as for this funding in other FHLB districts. We respectfully request that the definition of eligible Native entities be amended and that the set asides increase to meet demand from the field.

FHLB Affordable Housing Program scoring for what is considered a Native entity: It is not clear if the FHLB districts or FHFA has defined a Native organization AHP sponsor as only being a federally recognized Native American Tribes, Tribal Designated Housing Entities, Alaskan Native Villages or the government entity for Native Hawaiian Home Lands. Regardless of which entity is defining a Native sponsor as such, ONAC and other Native-led nonprofits that are a 501(c)(3) with at least 51% of the board of directors and leadership team identifying as American Indian, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian and which serve tribal citizens are not considered by FHFA or the FHLB Topeka to be eligible to receive the 5 points maximum for Sponsorship by a Not-for-Profit Organization for an AHP application. This understanding of Native organizations is lacking and should be amended to account for the realities in the Native asset-building field and Native homeownership ecosystem, as there are Native-led nonprofits that are not receiving the full points they should for an AHP application. This puts Native-led nonprofits at a disadvantage when applying to the FHLB for AHP support. Under the Sponsorship by a Not-for-Profit Organization section, Native nonprofits are only able to receive 2.5 points, instead of 5 points maximum. In competitive AHP applicant pools, this means that Native-led nonprofits may not be awarded enough points to receive AHP funding. Given the mandate that the FHLB system should be serving underserved Native peoples, and Native nonprofits are serving this exact population, this definition should be amended. If helpful, all of ONAC’s other funders (federal, foundation, private, etc.) understand that ONAC is a Native-led nonprofit that is serving tribal citizens across the U.S.

The misunderstanding of what constituents a Native-led nonprofit also emerges during the AHP scoring process as Native nonprofits are again not receiving the full 15 points they should for the special needs and other targeted populations (tribal citizens) they currently serve under the Underserved Communities and Populations section. This lack of acknowledgement of Native nonprofits again puts them at a disadvantage when they are trying to compete for an AHP application and requires they agree to other scoring commitments that are difficult to fulfill when they are already serving Native peoples that are considered to be special populations by the FHLB and FHFA.

Currently, as designed, the AHP program may not be a good fit for tribal governments or for many Native-led nonprofits. If there was a better fit, there would be tribal government and Native-led nonprofit applicants given the huge demand for DPA in Native communities. Tribal governments are not often in a position to serve others than their own citizens and the AHP program requires they do so in the name of fair housing laws. This may likely be one reason there are not tribal government applicants. Also, tribal governments and Native nonprofits may not utilize the AHP program as there are financial constraints and risks involved with their participation. An AHP sponsor must have discretionary funds that they can use to up-front pay for DPA as well as other funding to cover all the costs of administering an AHP program. Fewer Native applicants may have such funds given the severe lack of philanthropic giving in Native communities and constraints on tribal government funding. It also must be noted that the FHLBs may not choose to reimburse the sponsor for down payment assistance if they find an error in an AHP subsidy request. The lack of reimbursement requires that Native AHP sponsors absorb those financial losses. Additionally, if the sponsor does not meet the commitments they made to the FHLB to receive the points they received during the scoring process for serving the special populations determined by the FHLB, or certain numbers of participants at various AMIs, etc., then the sponsor must return all the reimbursed subsidies to the FHLB. If there is a Native entity that can manage these financial costs and risks, such as a Native-led nonprofit, the FHLB and FHFA should expand their definition of Native so that such Native nonprofits might be successful in their applications and serve underserved tribal citizens. We respectfully request that this oversight be corrected.

Contact: For further information, contact the ONAC Executive Director, Christy Finsel, Ph.D., (Osage Nation), at cfinsel@oknativeassets.org or (405) 720-0770, www.oknativeassets.org.