Affordable Housing Program

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AHP Update

The 2024 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) and voluntary housing grant initiative funding round is closed. Awards will be posted on Dec. 12.

2024 AHP Implementation Plan

Need More Information?

Contact Rhiannon Haller at 800-288-3400, ext: 3406, or rhiannon.haller@fhlb-pgh.com.

Past AHP Recipients

2022
2021
2020
2019
 

What is the Affordable Housing Program?

To accommodate individuals impacted by recent natural disasters, FHLBank Pittsburgh is now permitted to temporarily allow vacant rental units assisted by the Affordable Housing Program to be temporarily leased to individuals/households, regardless of their income, who were displaced by select disasters. Prior to accepting households that may qualify, project sponsors must notify and receive the written approval from FHLBank Pittsburgh. Sponsors may email ahp@fhlb-pgh.com for further information and assistance.

The Affordable Housing Program (AHP) provides grants and subsidized loans for the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing for households with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. Housing developers partner with FHLBank Pittsburgh members to apply for AHP funding, which is offered through one competitive funding round each year. Grants are awarded to the highest scoring projects.

View a list of our 2023 AHP and 2023 voluntary housing grant initiative recipients. The last three AHP funding round highest and lowest approved scores were:

2023: 75 highest; 65 lowest (resulted in tiebreaker)
2022: 79 highest; 68 lowest
2021: 73 highest; 65 lowest (resulted in tiebreaker)

Note: As a result of the updated regulation effective Jan. 1, 2021, overall scoring methodology changed and historically approved scores may not be consistent with current round scores.


Voluntary housing grant initiative

For 2024, FHLBank Pittsburgh (FHLBank) is providing $18.0 million to affordable housing projects in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, which is FHLBank's district. This offering for in-district projects is the voluntary housing grant initiative, which is separate and distinct from FHLBank's statutory Affordable Housing Program (AHP). The voluntary housing grant initiative provides competitive grants to affordable housing developers, including nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and housing and redevelopment authorities that are engaged in creating or rehabilitating affordable housing. Under the voluntary housing grant initiative, projects may be awarded up to $150,000 per unit and a maximum of $1,500,000 per project. Click here for more information about the voluntary housing grant initiative.

How Does AHP Benefit Members?

FHLBank Pittsburgh members benefit from AHP in a variety of ways:

  • Helps establish and expand community relationships
  • Capitalizes on spin-off investment and related business opportunities
  • Qualifies for Community Reinvestment Act credit
  • Generates community goodwill
  • Provides public recognition for community investments

What Qualifies for AHP Funding?

AHP grants and loans can be used for:

  • Single- and multi-family housing
  • New construction and rehabilitation
  • Rental and owner-occupied homes
  • Scattered-site housing development
  • Transitional and single-room-occupancy housing

AHP grants and loans can support the development of housing intended for underserved populations. These housing projects may be targeted to very low-income households, individuals with special needs, the homeless or veterans, among others. Typically these projects are service enriched, and the project sponsors are able to offer a menu of supportive services, such as counseling, vocational and educational services; medical support; and other forms of assistance funded through complementary sources.

How to Apply

Applications for AHP funding are accepted when the funding round is open. Once the funding round closes, we review the applications received for scoring and feasibility. Based on the results, our Board of Directors approves award recipients. Once notified of funding approval, awardees must draw down funds within 12 months of the approval date.

Provided below are step-by-step instructions for completing the AHP application.

Already an AHP Recipient? Approved AHP projects are required to be monitored in accordance with AHP regulations. View the full monitoring guidelines.

AHP Success Stories

See examples of AHP projects that have had a beneficial impact on their communities.

As a first step, applicants are encouraged to review the available resources and the AHP Implementation Plan. Additional AHP webinars are designed to provide valuable information that may assist applicants in submitting stronger applications.

The application assistance period has now closed. Requests for assistance will be limited to AHP Online technical functionality issues only (e.g., AHP Online login or financial feasibility spreadsheet upload issues). For questions related to scoring and feasibility guidelines, please consult the 2024 AHP Implementation Plan.

Each AHP application must be completed by a project sponsor (i.e., housing developer or public agency) and submitted by an FHLBank Pittsburgh member.

FHLBank Pittsburgh members that are interested in participating in AHP and looking to connect with project sponsors, as well as sponsors in need of an FHLBank Pittsburgh member to support their AHP application, can now request an organizational match by completing the AHP Member/Sponsor Match Request Form. Once you request a match, we will contact you to learn more about your organization's needs and help identify a possible AHP application partner.
All AHP applications must be submitted to FHLBank Pittsburgh electronically via AHP Online, accessed through the Bank's transaction site.

Members that do not currently have access to AHP Online can acquire it through their institution's Security Administrator (SA), who manages all access and roles for their institution.

Use the Registering in AHP Online guide for step-by-step instructions.

Project sponsors who already registered in AHP Online in previous funding rounds can still use their existing login and password information. Project sponsors new to the system must register as a new user.

If you have lost your password, or if you are not sure whether or not you are successfully registered in the AHP system, please call the FHLBank's Community Investment Department at 800-288-3400, option 4, for assistance.



Once a funding round opens, sponsors may initiate their application in AHP Online. To initiate an application, you must be a registered user and have the following information available:
  • Contact information for lead sponsor, those with input roles and the member financial institution
  • Name of project
  • Project's five-digit ZIP code
  • Type of project (rental, lease-purchase, homeownership)
  • Type of construction (new construction, rehabilitation)
We recommend beginning this process early in the round. The AHP application is lengthy and requires information from multiple sources.

AHP applications receive scoring points based on a variety of criteria, as defined in the AHP Implementation Plan. The highest scoring applications qualify to receive AHP funding. As all application submissions are considered final, it is important to submit a complete application.

Applications must be in 'Member Approved' status by the funding round deadline to be accepted. This is accomplished by the following steps:

  1. One of the lead sponsor contacts moves the application's status from 'Pending' to 'Sponsor Approved'.
  2. An email is then generated by AHP Online and sent to the member contacts associated with the application informing them that the application has obtained 'Sponsor Approved' status.
  3. One of the member contacts completes the two member screens and moves the application to the 'Member Approved' status.
  4. Once the application status is 'Member Approved,' email verifications are generated by AHP Online and sent to all contacts associated with the application, and the submission is complete. Please note that all submissions are considered final.
All applications are reviewed by Bank staff, and the AHP grant awards are announced on the designated date.

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