This year, the FHLBank of
Pittsburgh is substantially changing its scoring criteria for Affordable
Housing Program (AHP) applications, giving much greater weight to a project's impact on "community stability."

The Director of FHLBank Pittsburgh’s Community Investment Department, John Bendel, offers details in the following column.
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FHLBank’s AHP Focusing on Community Stability and Sustainability

With $14.7 million in Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grants approved in 2006, we at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh have turned our sights on our next funding rounds.

In 2007, FHLBank Pittsburgh will score grant applications based on nine criteria, including many utilized last year. However, we will attach greater significance to the impact of projects on “Community Stability,” assigning 25 points to this category versus the ten points assigned previously.

No community can expect to grow if only select areas of development receive focus. Going forward, AHP will place a premium on how projects reflect broader stakeholder collaboration and communitywide planning, and how the project itself adds value to the community as a whole. Grant awards will reflect an increasing commitment to quality community development strategies.

The goal is to increase AHP funding to projects in areas that have a high probability of sustainable revitalization. The Community Stability category will measure the likelihood that an affordable housing project will:

• Improve the quality of life of residents who will live in the development and community
• Enhance and conform to the natural and built environment
• Contribute to, and derive benefit from, community development activities.

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