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  • Comment Detail

  • Date: 07/12/24
    First Name: Michael
    Last Name: Olson
    Email: mjolson@bankofbrodhead.com
    Organization Type: organization
    Organization: Bank of Brodhead

  • Comment

    FHLB-Chicago has been critical in helping this community banker serve his community and housing needs. The MPF program from FHLB has provided fixed-rate mortgage loans to our bank for over 20 years. MPF has better pricing than Fannie and Freddie products. This leads to lower cost of closing and homeownership to borrowers in our area.

    The assertion made by FHFA that FHLBs aren't meeting the housing needs of communities is preposterous. We all enjoy the benefits of a capitalist society and the freedoms it provides. Included in those freedoms is the right to make an investment or not. There are countless factors that affect homeownership and the housing supply. Wages, cost of housing, regulation, interest rates, inflation, and many more. FHLB participation in the housing supply/investment decision made by individuals and entities is far down the timeline after all the preceding factors have been considered. In short, we do not live in a state-driven economy where FHLB would be forced to actually build homes in fulfillment of its mission.

    This effort by FHFA is a solution in search of a problem. Leave the FHLB system alone. This community banker and the community he serves depends on FHLB-Chicago as it exists today, without modification.