[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 107 (Friday, June 3, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35815-35817]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-13122]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Community Development Financial Institutions Fund
Information Collection: Capital Magnet Fund Application; Capital
Magnet Fund Annual Report
ACTION: Notice and request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).
Currently, the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI)
Fund, Department of the Treasury, is soliciting comments concerning the
Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) Application (hereafter, the Application) and
comments concerning reporting and record retention requirements of the
Capital Magnet Fund Annual Report (hereafter, Annual Report).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before August 2, 2016 to
be assured of consideration.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments via email to Marcia Sigal, CMF Program
Manager, CDFI Fund, at [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marcia Sigal, CMF Program Manager,
CDFI Fund, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW., Washington, DC 20220 (202) 653-0375 (not a toll free number).
Other information regarding the CDFI Fund and its programs may be
obtained through the CDFI Fund's Web site at http://www.cdfifund.gov.
The Application may be obtained from the CMF program page of the
CDFI Fund's Web site at https://www.cdfifund.gov/Documents/FY2016%20CMF%20Application%20Instructions_Final_Updated%203.23.2016.pdf.
The Capital Magnet Fund Awardee Annual Report can be found at https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/Programs/cmf/Pages/compliance-step.aspx#step5.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Capital Magnet Fund Application; Capital Magnet Fund Annual
Report.
OMB Numbers: 1559-0036; 1559-0043.
Abstract: The Capital Magnet Fund (CMF) was established through the
Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-289) or HERA, as
a trust fund to be used to carry out a competitive grant program
administered by the CDFI Fund. Through the CMF, the CDFI Fund is
authorized to administer a competitive application process to make
financial assistance grants to Certified Community Development
Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and qualified Nonprofit Organizations
that have the development or management of affordable housing as one of
their principal purposes. CMF Awards must be used to attract private
financing for and increase investment in (i) the Development,
Preservation, Rehabilitation, and Purchase of Affordable Housing for
primarily Extremely Low-, Very Low-, and Low-Income Families; and (ii)
Economic Development Activities which, In Conjunction With Affordable
Housing Activities will implement a Concerted Strategy to stabilize or
revitalize a Low-Income area or an Underserved Rural Area.
CMF Award Recipients will be competitively selected after a careful
review of their applications for program funding. The Application
requires the submission of information about the Applicant's track
record, proposed pipeline, as well as data and narrative strategies for
four main sections:
[[Page 35816]]
Business Strategy, Leveraging Strategy, Community Impact, and
Organizational Capacity. As part of the Award selection process, the
CDFI Fund will conduct a quantitative review and a subsequent external
substantive review of each Application in two parts (Phase 1 and Phase
2) as defined in a Notice of Funds Availability for each round.
The CMF Award Recipients will enter into Assistance Agreements with
the CDFI Fund that set forth certain required terms and conditions of
the award, including reporting and data collection requirements. The
Assistance Agreement requires the collection of annual reports that are
used to collect information for compliance monitoring and program
evaluation purposes. This information is reviewed to ensure the
Awardee's compliance with its performance goals and contractual
obligations as well as the overall performance of the program.
The CDFI Fund published a Notice of Funds Availability for the
Capital Magnet Fund on February 8, 2016 (81 Federal Register 6585). The
NOFA provides application guidance for the FY 2016 CMF funding round.
The CDFI Fund sought and received emergency PRA approval from Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for the CMF Application that is currently
being used for the FY 2016 CMF funding round.
This request for public comment seeks to consolidate all CMF-
related forms under OMB control number 1559-0036. Therefore, 1559-0036
will include both the CMF Application, currently 1559-0036, and 1559-
0043 the Capital Magnet Fund Awardee Annual Report.
Title: Capital Magnet Fund Application.
OMB Number: 1559-0036.
Current Actions: Renewal of existing Information Collection.
Type of Review: Regular Review.
Affected Public: Certified CDFIs and qualified Nonprofit
Organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 150.
Estimated Annual Time per Respondent: 100.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 15,000.
Title: Capital Magnet Fund Annual Report.
OMB Number: 1559-0043.
Current Actions: Reinstatement.
Type of Review: Regular Review.
Affected Public: Eligible Certified CDFIs and Nonprofit
Organizations participating in CMF.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 60.
Estimated Annual Time per Respondent: 40 hours per year.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,400 hours per year.
Requests for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this
notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of
Management and Budget approval. All comments will become a matter of
public record and may be published on the CDFI Fund's Web site at
http://www.cdfifund.gov.
The CDFI Fund is seeking input on the content of the CMF
Application with regards to the following: (a) Whether the collection
of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including
through the use of technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up
costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services
required to provide information.
Additionally, the CDFI Fund specifically requests comments
concerning the following questions:
(1) Is the information that is currently collected by the
Application necessary and appropriate for the CDFI Fund to consider for
the purpose of making award decisions?
(2) Are there questions or tables that are redundant or
unnecessary?
(3) Are there questions or tables that should be added to ensure
collection of relevant information?
(4) CMF Awards may be used to finance Affordable Housing Activities
(both rental and Homeownership), as well as certain Economic
Development Activities. Is the data and information requested in the
Application about proposed Affordable Housing Activities and Economic
Development Activities appropriate to these different activities or
housing tenure types?
(5) What, if any, additional data and information should be
collected on any of these different activities or housing tenure types?
(6) Question 5 asks Applicants to provide the Service Areas that
they propose to serve through CMF Awards. Do the answer options in
Question 5 allow for sufficient flexibility to encompass the Service
Areas in which Certified CDFIs and Non-Profit Organizations operate?
(7) Per HERA, the CDFI Fund is required to fund CMF activities in
geographically diverse areas of economic distress. The CDFI Fund
publishes a list of areas of ``High Housing Need'' based on data from
the U.S. Census as a way for Applicants to identify their intent to
fund activities in areas of economic distress. In the FY 2016 CMF
funding round, areas of High Housing Need are defined as census tracts
where: (i) At least 20 percent of households are Very Low-Income
renters paying more than half their income for rent; or (ii) are high
poverty neighborhoods (where greater than 20 percent of households have
incomes below the poverty rate) with a rental vacancy rate of at least
10 percent; or (iii) are Underserved Rural Areas. What other sources of
data or indicators could the CDFI Fund use to identify areas of high
housing need or areas of economic distress?
(8) How, if at all, should the CDFI Fund consider the energy
efficiency and/or environmental impacts of properties as part of the
Application process?
(9) Tables A1, A2, and C1 ask for certain data that will be used to
assess an Applicant's track record. Is the data collected in these
three tables appropriate to assess an Applicant's track record? Is
there other information not requested in the Application that could
demonstrate an Applicant's track record?
(10) Tables B2, B3, and C2 ask for certain data and information
that will be used to assess an Applicant's projected deployment and
production. Is the data collected in these three tables appropriate to
assess an Applicant's projected deployment of its CMF Award and
production? Is there other information not requested in the Application
that would demonstrate an Applicant's projected deployment of its CMF
Award and production?
(11) Are there requests for data in the Application that Applicants
(either Certified CDFIs or Non-Profit Organizations) do not have
readily available or that are too overly burdensome to obtain and/or
calculate (e.g., Exhibit 3 Application Financial Data)?
(12) What data and information about an Applicant's loan portfolio
and organizational finances should be requested in the Application in
order to evaluate whether Applicants are in adequate financial health
and have the capacity to successfully deploy a CMF Award?
The CDFI Fund is also seeking input on the content of the Capital
Magnet Fund Annual Report. The CMF Assistance Agreement requires the
collection of annual reports that are used to collect information for
compliance monitoring and program
[[Page 35817]]
evaluation purposes. This information is reviewed to ensure the
Recipient's compliance with its performance goals and contractual
obligations and the overall performance of the program. The Annual
Report represents a revised annual information collection as compared
to the version posted in December 2012. This information collection
request incorporates four new fields to report funding from related
public sources and related private sources, and funding from third-
party public sources and third-party private sources. In addition, this
version incorporates prior public comments and technical corrections
from current users to improve validation and reduce reporting burdens
for program Recipients. The CDFI Fund proposes to add additional fields
to the posted data collection instrument to show how the Applicant has
met its Application commitment to leverage a CMF Award with the
specified pre-investment funds. The reporting template can be viewed on
the CDFI Fund Web site at https://www.cdfifund.gov/programs-training/Programs/cmf/Pages/compliance-step.aspx#step5. Comments concerning the
Annual Report are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the
accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of
technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services required to provide
information.
Authority: Pub. L. 110-289, 12 CFR 1807.
Mary Ann Donovan,
Director, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
[FR Doc. 2016-13122 Filed 6-2-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-70-P