Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Awards $15.4M For Affordable Housing

Atlanta–The Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBank) of Atlanta has awarded part of the funding under its 2010 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) to affordable housing developments in Florida and Georgia, a total of $15.4 million. All together, FHLBank Atlanta will award $42.7 million in 11 states and the District of Columbia to create or preserve 4,841 units of affordable housing.

AHP is a component of FHLBank Atlanta’s affordable housing, economic development and down payment assistance initiatives. It helps develop owner-occupied and rental housing for very low-, low- and moderate-income families, with FHLBank Atlanta awarding the funds annually to member financial institutions and their community housing partners.

One award of $8.5 million will fund the construction of or repair of 1,248 affordable housing units in the Florida counties of Duval, Lake and Orange, as well as a number of Florida cities, including Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Walton Beach, Pensacola, Tallahassee and others.

A separate award of $6.9 million will assist in the funding of 15 affordable housing developments in Georgia.

The Federal Home Loan Banks are a system of 12 regional banks from which local lending institutions borrow funds to finance housing, economic development and infrastructure. The system has about 7,800 member institutions nationwide, including community banks, credit unions, community development financial institutions and insurance companies. FHLBank lending to member institutions, called “advances,” responds to demand among members, and declined by 24 percent during 2010 compared with 2009, according to the organization. At no point during the financial crisis of recent years has the system taken any public money.

FHLBank Atlanta reported net income of about $278 million for 2010, a decrease of $5 million from net income of about $283 million for 2009. As of the end of 2010, the bank had total assets of about $131.8 billion, a decrease of $19.5 billion, or 12.9 percent, from year-end 2009. The bank’s 2010 performance resulted in an annualized return on equity of 3.42 percent, compared to 3.58 percent for 2009.