Other Community Programs & Initiatives
Alongside our annual grant programs that provide funds for affordable housing financing, homeownership, and economic development, our members can use our discounted credit programs for housing and other targeted community development activities that benefit low- to moderate-income people and underserved communities. We also offer a variety of initiatives to provide funding and other resources that can make the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable, and resilient.
Credit Programs
Our Community Investment Program (CIP) and Advances for Community Enterprise (ACE) programs offer discounted advances and letters of credit to our members, that they, in turn, can lend or provide in support of affordable housing, homeownership, neighborhood revitalization, small businesses, and other targeted economic development activities.
Racial Equity Initiatives
- Our Empowering Black Homeownership program matches the donations our members make to help HUD-approved housing counseling agencies (HCAs) expand their capacity to serve more aspiring and at-risk homeowners in communities of color.
- Racial Equity Accelerator for Homeownership: Our $1.5 million collaboration with the Urban Institute is a research and product development initiative aimed at tackling some of the most persistent challenges to closing the racial gaps in homeownership and wealth-building.
Nevada Capacity Building
We are supporting a statewide nonprofit, the Nevada Housing Coalition, which FHLBank San Francisco helped create with early-stage funding, in its ongoing efforts to build overall capacity for affordable housing development in Nevada.
Homeownership Solutions Summits and "Closing the Racial Equity Gap" Report
Our series of Homeownership Solutions Summits are part of a continuum of FHLBank San Francisco initiatives focused on advancing racial equity in homeownership and addressing housing affordability and economic opportunity across the Bank’s three-state district of California, Arizona, and Nevada.
In convening these Summits in 2022 and 2023, the Bank’s goal was to bring disparate, siloed stakeholders and practitioners together to share ideas, explore best practices, and develop evidence-based solutions to boost both the supply of affordable housing and access to equitable mortgage financing. These sessions provided a forum to understand what is happening in local communities and to identify tangible actions that can be taken to address racial inequity impacting the housing finance market. Stakeholders from across the housing and mortgage finance industry gathered with community and political leaders met to share ideas, explore best practices, and coordinate public and private collaboration to that can better address the urgent demand for affordable housing and homeownership opportunities.
On October 4, 2023, we released a package of recommendations for or updating the housing ecosystem to close the racial homeownership and wealth gaps. "Closing the Racial Equity Gap: A Call to Action" is an historic first for a Federal Home Loan Bank. It directly calls out entrenched systemic failings and offers novel yet constructive ideas that have the potential to break down structural barriers that historically have disadvantaged people of color.
Within the report we also collected links to third-party external resources that offer or provide job training programs, financial literacy education, and housing assistance, including downpayment assistance resources that can complement the Bank’s WISH First-Time Homebuyer grants. Click External Resources on the right to access resource links.