For 30 years, members of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLBank Chicago) have partnered with community developers and public agencies to apply for Affordable Housing Program (AHP) subsidies. These grants are awarded to the highest-scoring projects through a competitive process until the funds are exhausted. The 2020 competitive round opened on Monday, May 4 and closed on Friday, June 12.

Some member and sponsor applicants will receive a request for clarification during the review period. This year, clarifications will be sent out on Mondays, beginning on July 20, and responses will be due by Friday of the week in which the clarification request was received. The date on which a clarification request is sent is not an indication of competitiveness, nor will all applicants receive a request for clarification. All applicants will be notified of the status of their application in early November.

2020 Round Highlights

1. Forty members and 48 sponsors jointly submitted 83 applications.

2. Approximately $47.5 million in competitive AHP subsidies was requested to support the construction, acquisition, and/or rehabilitation of 4,437 housing units.

3. FHLBank Chicago expects to award $23.5 million this year.

4. The applications by project location were distributed between Illinois (27) and Wisconsin (52), plus four from outside the district.

5. Sixty-five of the applications submitted were for rental projects and 18 were for homeownership projects.

6. The total development cost for the 83 projects is more than $982 million. 

7. The average subsidy requested was $571,999. 

8. In 2019, 71 applications requesting nearly $42.6 million were submitted, and ultimately $27.7 million was awarded. 

9. Since 1989, FHLBank Chicago has awarded more than $484 million in competitive AHP subsidies to support 84,262 housing units.