have concerns about the programs of activists that i hope can be explored in today's hearing community development financial institutions or source of subsidized capital to communities who face difficulties attracting funds for economic development but the subsidy that the government provides is not free we need to ensure that the c d f pfaff on program is properly administered so that funds are provided to individuals and that both have productive uses for it and would otherwise not have access to financing c d f as have a proven track record of providing economic development dollars to under served communities according the treasury department and they created or maintain more than seventy thousand full time jobs this success should not loose your standard i hope our witnesses today  particularly the treasury department will be able to discuss the operational improvements that can be implemented as a fun program of volves finally even though the program has had some successes in promoting capital investment under served communities it would be wrong to redirect tarp money to this program tarp was established to stabilize the financial system of the time of the strain market  disruption given the out alarming debt this country is running on the extraordinary measures that were taken during the financial crisis should be wound down as soon as practical and that includes tar hearing with this very devastating economic dilemma where and minority communities are profoundly impacted probably two to three times as devastating as  can say you're successful but we didn't know how you measure that what determines your success and what would it be like if you were not there helping these communities what would it be like for them because the history of it is came about because of the out migration of white communities these communities became african american in many cases and when the white community left chairman i think the witnesses for appearing and i'm especially grateful to the president president obama has made a request for an additional two hundred fifty million dollars in appropriations for the fund for twenty eleven and i want to compliment the president for making such a request it is obvious that the institutions have served us well served us well by the way at a time when many other institutions were not serving us well and i think that bodes well for what the institutions represent they do this many times on a shoestring budget in communities that are thought to be such that they can not for loans cannot repay loans but they continue to defy the odds and they continue to make a difference in the lives of chairman ranking member baucus members of the committee this committee has a long and bipartisan history of support for that commitment financial institution spondon c d f as around the country i want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the role in drawing small businesses in creating jobs in assisting economical cover in distressed communities across the united states as we emerge from the worst economic crisis in generations the administration is focused on spurring greater job growth ensuring that the recovery is firmly established a pfizer a critical and an important piece of our broader commitment to an inclusive recovery provide capital credits financial services to hard to reach communities and under served populations in both rural and urban america just entrepreneurs and small businesses that are the vital engines of growth in today's economic climate to support a small business is more critical than ever report providing financing to over ten thousand businesses and over six hundred commercial real estate properties in two thousand and five also reported that they helped to create or maintain over seventy dollars compared to the alternative the current economic environment has strained the resources of many they are also at the same time a dramatic increase in requests for their lending services as other sources of credit have dried up department with an additional one and a half billion dollars in new markets tax credit allocation authority for both fiscal year two thousand and nine and two thousand and eight we have recently announced a new program under the community development capital the sun including one hundred forty million for the funds financial and nicholas assistance awards and twelve million in funding for native communities we've made hard choices in the treasury's budget while not proposing funding this year for either the capital magnetron or for banking enterprise awards we have proposed two new initiatives the budget request fifty million dollars for a bank on usa initiative which will promote financial education broader access to bank accounts and other financial services to help families meet their financial and build savings back in the budget request funding participation in a new multi agency effort the healthy food financing initiative this initiative will help provide the financing necessary to increase the availability of affordable healthy food in under served urban and rural markets treasury will devote two hundred fifty million new markets tax credit authority and twenty five million authority to be offset against billet and we're also working with the i r s on further reforms to make the credit work smoothly for small businesses we look forward to working with the committee to support the work to help distress communities whether the economic downturn and to support an economic recovery that reaches all americans thank you very much good afternoon chairman frank ranking member baucus and the distinguished members of the house financial services committee a pleasure for me to be here today to discuss the city of slots on was established in one thousand nine hundred four and our mission is to promote credit and venture capital funds all of them specialize in serving low income communities that lack access to credit capital and financial services from mainstream financial institutions c often the only institutions in their community that offer retail banking services and responsible loans for small businesses and micro enterprise is affordable housing projects and community facilities they also provide additional services such as technical assistance for small businesses credit counseling and home buyer education to help borrowers quit it effectively since the onset of the recent economic crisis has been called upon to play an even larger responsibility that we have been given in the midst of the economic crisis and our recent accomplishments bear witness to our commitment of being a critical part of the administration strategy that brings economic recovery to all when the recession   business process to enable us to get funds to the communities that need them more than ever on average we now disperse awards a process to take over twelve months and sixty days we now make decisions on all new applications  for certification within ninety days our actions implementing the recovery act are nothing short of extraordinary less than a hundred days after the enactment of the recovery act we announced financial assistance awards to fifty nine  it's about creating opportunity and giving hope as we celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the creation of this is an opportune time not just to reflect on what we have accomplished but to look forward and initiative these are just a few initiatives that we hope to undertake in the near future and beyond many more must follow and we stand ready if congress were to ask us to increase our role in serving low income communities  on mainstream banking organizations and those banks can obtain positive consideration under the community reinvestment act for their investments in around the country so the contribute to the city of fison a number of different ways to provide deposits organizations there's actually collaborate with them on initiatives such as affordable housing projects small business development finance  job creation programs as well as counseling services homebuyers services financial education so there are a number of ways in which traditional financial institutions have also partnered with a very substantive way a number of income communities that they're able to make loans that are more difficult for other institutions to make there certainly have been losses in low income communities in many communities around the country given the in small banks community banks around the country community around the country and community development banks around the country that it was important to offer support under the economic stabilization act for concerns but the overriding goal that congress gave us with respect to financial stability we thought it was an appropriate aspect of our community bank efforts you know i understand that there is still economic probably directed towards the smallest and regional communities but i'm not sure i don't think it was ever envisioned to start using that as opposed to appropriation process so i  think those are completely separate i would agree with you mr baucus of the appropriations process is to support the ongoing work in supporting around the country the emergency economic stabilization act is for an emergency it is a temporary program the program that we've set up we set up as a temporary program not a substitute for appropriations in any way it is our broader programs for community banks to deal with the fact that it's not just big banks that got hit by the financial crisis in fact financial crisis caused enormous harm to community banks and thrifts around the country and that's why we think given the emergency situation that  before we are looking at whether there are ways to assist in instability in the loan fund sector but that's not something that was part of what the president announced or what secretary an hour and these are for the two percent loans either one of you want to comment on that i know that it is a real problem and in all communities really but obviously it impacts our lower income communities correct  individual development accounts and other types of services so there are a number of components to the initiative itself but the underlying i think the most critical piece is really looking at ways in which we  some of the institutions in our in my congressional district to try to get them more focused on the benefits of vailable one of the things we we've found is that especially in the last couple years when things have been so tough as with most people who are interested in day to day survival you spend so much time surviving day to day that you don't always look at other opportunities that might be available that were you doing more forward looking and global that i had a discussion with miss saunders over at mechanics and farmers bank and told her that i was planning to send her some information so i've had my opportunity to  i wanted to get mr burroughs assessment of whether that's been out there long enough for you to make even  impediment a lot of the impediments that we thought were were out there that were keeping financial institutions from using the top monies and getting involved with these programs that what we did in designing the program really from last fall through the announcement was an enormous amount of time with pfizer around the country hearing their concerns listening to their needs and trying to design a program structure that was going to be responsive to the kind of concerns that have been expressed we have been told by them that the program we have announced will be useful to them program how long will the processing time how long will the processing time be for you to get somebody started on this new program and get them approved i  businesses and over six hundred commercial real estate properties in two thousand and eight in a time when the commercial real estate market is under immense pressure this financing can only help stabilize the market even if in a small way they also point out th thank you representative moore i'll start and then director will add a few remarks me with you i think can be an important additional financing tool on the commercial real estate market and for small businesses and entrepreneurs around the  businesses and small business growth i think if we can get the new markets tax credit that we've asked for for two thousand and ten which is still pending if we can get that done in the forward for this year that we're in together with  trying to pursue in the base programs by the healthy food financing initiative will help entrepreneurs provide green grocer kind of activities in distressed communities and help rural areas with farmers bringing very important to them the expansion of city of five continues to be an important priority for us as well so as we move toward the future i think it's very important for us to look at those organizations that continue to do that good work and communities have an extraordinary in terms of how they're able to use our funding they're able to get the money out quickly and effectively into those and i think that again their track record is something that we need to continue to support thank you while a budget request to increase appropriations by two hundred fifty million dollars might not seem like much when we've gone through a major financial crisis and painful recession which cost hundreds of billions of dollars and resources can be used effectively to the fullest extent possible they are continually providing good information to us based on audit statements and other types of self assessment that they're doing as well so we believe that we have the infrastructure in place to make sure that  administration it is my understanding that the regulators will have a large role in deciding who is able to receive funds from this initiative my fear is that the funds will have a limited role a state a limited role in that process and the regulators will be unable to accurately access which institutions can and should take advantage of it can you comment on the role of c d s by having this process question number one and then two is who have the final say in this process or the regulators under the under the program that was announced on consistent with the prior programs announced within the of financial stability the bank and thrift regulators need to make a determination that the institution is operating in a safe and sound manner under the initiative that was an ounced in making that assessment the regulators will take into account the ability for the five to reach that safe and sound level using matching funds not simply through private capital but can use treasury bonds up to one one to one match to reach that appropriate level so we think that that combination of insuring taxpayer protection with treasury matching to viability will significant outreach particularly select community organizations as well latino communities to really talk about and really encourage them to look at our programs and look at the benefits of becoming particular the amount of processing time anywhere between fifty and seventy five percent of the long reputation of working very efficiently and quickly to get money out the door to get funding up the door and we will continue to look for ways organizations that are applying for our funding cutting down on the number of paper which is always a welcome from any organization applying for funding we're looking at ways in which we can have greater impact in communities for those chairman good afternoon to you all i think it's clear that the community development financial institutions have been successful in bringing greater capital and investment into america's economically distressed areas and i cannot imagine that there's a congressional district anywhere in the united states that has not benefited from your fine work seems to me that there's general agreement that played a constructive role in rebuilding poverty stricken and transitional neighborhoods and have helped to bring economic opportunity to individuals living in markets considered to be under the financial services industry providing access to credit and capital is a primary step toward creating and retaining jobs and obviously creating jobs is what is at the heart of our work at the moment in congress also revitalise neighborhood develops affordable housing and supports small businesses and certainly it is our goal disbursement do you think that standards for awarding grants where in any way modified or lowered in two thousand and nine and you for the question certainly no i don't in fact we were number of outside reviewers with expertise in development issues come in and read our application that goes through several other iterations even before recommendations are made that process did not change in this current round in this last round that we had we continue to be very careful very thoughtful about the process itself and clearly i think had not only staff in place before a team leader is actually able to take a look and look at the recommendations and make a final determination i don't get involved in that process and i think it's important for me to make sure that there's an understanding that there's an arm's length process as it should be a firewall between that process and those reviewers and but when the final recommendation does come to me those reviewers have taken great care in making sure that there's institutional diversity geographic diversity  some very specific criteria we look we start with the qualifying census tracks which there are about twenty five thousand tracks that qualify that are low income where programs but if that funding is available than those of the organizations that were very good let me ask you this because i think the real central issue that we've got to grapple with here is your lack of access t can you tell us if that is on the access the capital to do what you're doing and if not we need to know here today what legislative fixes we for the new markets tax credit of five billion dollars in two thousand and twenty eleven we still haven't closed out the two thousand and ten new markets tax extension but let me ask you something about that because can you explain what the new market tax credit is and especially at a time when all these tax credits i don't know new markets is different but these tax credits are losing their value because of the housing ago and it's designed to bring new sources of private sector capital or business development for charter schools for community development in low and moderate income rural and urban communities and the way it works is people apply entities commuted element and he's applied to the c d f life on a competitive basis to receive an allocation and they then use that allocation to attract private sector resources the tax credit then goes to the investor and the investor gets a tax credit equal to thirty nine percent of their investment it's patient capital investment over seven years so it's a tax credit that is allocated by the phone on a competitive basis and it's then used to a proper picture is it safe to assume that we have some low income communities that are anglo i mention this only because course th perception seems to exist that this is another type of affirmative action program or something that is the zines specifically for minority communities which is not the case this has benefited that i just want to make sure that people understand that this is this has been a great program for people regardless of ethnicity and i really am curious as to why you were successful to the extent that you were when we had  downturn in the economy when we had other banks community banks and other banks institutions that were not can you give me just some insight as to what what helped you to weather the storm well i would business loan you make business lot smaller business loans and that's a great thing that by the way i commend you for why is it that your small business loans were successful in terms of repayment as opposed to small business loans that were made by some of the institutions i think you're going to hear a little bit of that in the second panel from around the country are making small business loans but it's basically knowing their customer building relationships providing business advice and business assistance it's knowing your community that you're serving it's finding creative ways of sharing risk with others and i think the strategies are proving effective even in this downturn although as i said many low income communities and many business lines are suffering in this downturn it's just that in many circumstances they're able to weather a little bit better than their peers in similar circumstances may sometimes it's as simple as that c s i being physically located in that community as assistant secretary bar said they know their customers and their customers day in and day out and so this is  as we move forward what would you recommend that we do here in congress to assist you with such that you can become fully capitalise as is the case with banks  would like to be fully capitalized what would you recommend we do to help you become fully capitalized so that you can meet the demands of the market not make loans arbitrarily and capriciously but continue to make good solid loans that people well i think the secretary has talked a little bit about that certainly from the new markets tax credit side there are parts of the program that will continue to be important for us to that the new markets tax credit for to make sure we have a robust program there clearly even from our financial assistance and technical assistance grants more concerned about the small business loans that the new markets i'm familiar with and that deals with areas generally speaking but small business loans yes and so from our financial assistance and technical assistance grants those grants in fact have been used to continue to spur small business development to help with small business investments i think that again to  continue to see the expansion and growth of that program is going to be important to those that are supporting the small businesses we're also looking at ways on the new markets tax credit side as well to look at ways in which the tax credits can and appropriate sharing of information consistent with supervisory responsibilities and confidentiality that helps that it is a mission process ok thank you but but what i'm what i'm wondering whether in the treasury are risk risky loans we know that from the from the very beginning interested in and how that plays out with the borrowers so there's there's obviously a separation between the independent won't share your concern i think that there is a natural tendency that you are seeing playing out in the regulatory community with respect to the economic cycle it's more severe than it usually is but what can we would do about it i do think that calling attention to the problem with the regulators is appropriate the regulators have gotten together to guidance on commercial real estate and small businesses my understanding is the banks operating in poor neighborhoods and minority neighborhoods we have a bank in kansas or bank on independence avenue and this is something that is desperately needed it's been zeroed out what can you tell me can you explain why certainly so while we were getting the funding level we had to make hard choices for this fiscal year we wanted to explore ways of making sure the bank enterprise awards program works approximately ten percent lower than customers who have not gone to the program the c d f i in my district does this while serving the targeted populations noted by the c d f fund and its financial of the industry of workers holders to modify mortgages in a way that makes it possible for those in the mortgages for homeowners to have underwater borrow to give them some equity to protect to make it worth protecting and without that even a modified mortgage payment is just expensive rent obviously the foreclosure problem continues and there are many who  can't seem to get the mortgage holder to foreclose so they could get on with things take the loss and move on one of the problems that we continue to hear with voluntary modifications anything that could address that obvious conflict of interest are you considering pursuing some kind of remedy that would prohibit a service or from also holding second mortgage this is obviously a thorny issue it's been deviled mortgage modification efforts for or really since the beginning of the crisis i think you're right to focus on the problem of second liens i know chairman frank is also quite focused on that problem i believe the committee is going to be having a hearing focused particularly on the issue secondly i know that we would like to see more action by the banks in this area i think that the action so far has been disappointing we have built into the present modification plan program to extinguish second liens automatically when the first lien is modified we've been encouraging the banks to sign up we have automatically be brought into the modification program and either extinguished or modify down along with the first lien we're seeing some principal reduction modification program but not as much as we'd like this will help that feel sense of urgency that that will not remain the case and we need to get ahead of the problems well we're not going to get a health problem that began to catch up with fundamentally do you see that as a conflict of interest to service trust and the mortgage financing system one of the reasons why we so strongly wanted to pass financial reform we're pushing really hard to get it done this year because i think we need uniform national standards that will improve that going forward we have a problem that we've got to figure out a creative solution to get there and that's why we've been looking in the model to do it yes i know there are a lot of conflicts of interest that want do you agree that that is one to service holding the secondly i think that in some net loan charge offer eight point four two and a non current loan rate of one point seven one that would be about a that would mean that the peer group actually having charge off about one third of what the banks or not i don't know what you know whether we're talking about low income or low income communities or you offer me with the testimony i have not read that particular statistic that you just cited to me but i think there is a question of we have apples to apples in my response to mr green i was focused on trying serving a similar borrower in the circumstances these are reasons why they might but i certainly don't have not looked at examined statistics that you just so we don't really don't i mean i and i we don't have those numbers or if we do do do we know i don't have the numbers that you just described and i would just say this as a follow up maybe if there are some numbers available or is the we generated over a billion one point four billion dollars in financing and assisted over seventy one thousand individuals in arkansas louisiana tennessee and mississippi we were going to region that encompasses the mississippi delta the gulf coast re that has been devastated by hurricane katrina and rita and what is arguably perhaps the most historically just region in our country while my comments today will be from my experience as  struggling in distress communities across the country it is also significant that we still have work to do and some of those recommendations director gambrell and her staff to be commended for expediting funding so levels of poverty and lack lack of capital such as the region that i work in the mid south region of arkansas louisiana mississippi have the highest poverty rate in the nation louisiana mississippi arkansas have the are laws median family incomes we have a higher percentage of residents compared to other states high cost mortgages are dominant in our region thirty seven percent of mississippi's population is african american the highest percentage in the nation and despite the higher concentration minority residents we have the lowest rates among business ownership that is a primary reason so critical we made several recommendations that we hope that the fund in this we have several recommendations to treasury that we provide funds to loan funds in a responsible manner and we encourage the treasury department and congress to work with the field to implement these recommendations lastly i'd like to encourage that greater access to federal resources across the board pfizer are unique in providing services to distressed communities and it stands to reason that we should a member of the board and i perform as the chief operating officer of kentucky highlands i have been a practitioner in the area of community economic development for thirty two years and i do the work that i of life of many people example a company named patriot industries in a very low income area twelve years ago began with fifteen employees we invested equity and provided various forms of  operational systems to that company today they closed their fiscal year twelve thirty one zero nine with five hundred forty five employees very unprofitable and have plugged thirty three million dollars of payroll into that community over the last income communities the demand for our services as a result of this financial crisis one of the things that i would like to suggest to the committee is that the american recovery thousand more the importance of the c d f and in maintaining this level of performance becomes even clearer in challenging economic times when funding from other sources is often reduced or curtailed the recent economic downturn has had a substantial impact on our activities both positive and negative or the last forty months we have an average of a million dollars every month new loans originated increased in two thousand and nine two a record sixteen million with overall portfolio growth of twenty percent to twenty six million we have used our portfolio repayment experience along with appropriate credit underwriting standards to develop a proprietorial underwriting platform to evaluate long request we use this platform to support the industry we underwrite and perform the backroom services for thirteen others throughout the country despite the consistent twenty percent annual growth in our portfolio the ever dollars capital for continued expansion we opened up our first louisiana office in new orleans in april of two thousand and nine at the state level like to give an example of a program that is no longer active because the fund it is called the alternative growing funding source warned the inclusion program as noted earlier we get the money out on the street additionally given the urgency of demand and the desire to more quickly stimulate an economic recovery based in part on small with our requested action steps to improve the funding process are to extend a higher level of funds for the program adjust the funding schedule to allow for more frequent distribution than annually modify fund restrictions and to better accommodate opportunity good afternoon chairman frank ranking member baucus and members of the committee thank you very much for inviting me to discuss the important work in the context of this current economic crisis we have grown from a zero base to one hundred fifty million in total assets and have average over the last two years thirty million dollars mostly to small businesses my recommendations to the committee to help support the important work  communities as you consider reauthorization thank you very much for letting me share this story we look forward to working with the committee to ensure lower income communities are not left behind in this recovery national newly formed native to define network let me begin by saying thank you for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf of always and our native communities throughout the united states including alaska native a native hawaiian communities some of the most impoverished communities in our country i have come in to be witness to the unique role that play in native communities and have included their innovations and s successes in my written testimony so i hope that you're able to see those i've also included recommendations to continue the momentum of the natives to defy industry in alleviating poverty double digit unemployment rates recommendations like giving the native initiatives a permanent place in the funds authorising statute as a certified national native intermediate intermediary that provides training technical and system assistance and investments to help native communities across the stabber sustainable vibrant and healthy economies self sufficiency wise resource management and entrepreneurship are all traditional native values and over the last decade has been leading the movement to renew these values in modern native communities the movement we are part of is greatly enhanced by support native of native communities have been receiving and will continue to receive from the city of five funds native initiatives program and have a little history on it that in one thousand nine hundred ninety five conducted the native american lending study that examined access to capital and financial services and native communities and identified seventeen barriers to native economic development the c f i fund responded by launching the native initiatives program in two thousand and two this in  y just added to the fifty seven native studio so the growth in the industry has been incredible why is the rolls funds role so important it's because native c f eyes are the leading source of capital for small business homeownership an asset building in reservation communities that has to have historically have not been served by mainstream financial institutions making them great targets for predatory lenders that have been happy to fill that void one of the area is where always has done extensive work is the cheyenne river indian reservation the reservation encompasses about counties two of the poorest counties in america in two thousand eighty percent of the population was native american but less than one percent of the businesses were native and this disparity provided immense opportunity for the start of a four bands community fund that provides entrepreneurship and asset building services to the reservation i'm here to say that communities on my reservation like many other native communities with a native  experiencing real changes we're replacing poverty with entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills having recently been the executive director of four bands i'd like to share a story to demonstrate the effect of the programs and what they're doing to help play a role  n getting people on the show in a reservation out of poverty for bans began lending in two thousand and two and one of our first one thousand dollars micro loans went to an unemployed tribal member who completed our business training class and wanted to start a plumbing and heating business he needed to put tires on his truck so he could travel to jobs we made the loan and he was on his way in two thousand and six d m d plumbing and heating was able to access a two hundred thousand dollars loan from an offer as lender with an s b a guarantee which is a rarity to see s b a guarantees in he was able to contacted us asking for assistance we took the long back brought it in house helping to preserve their business credit we provide financial and marketing assistance to his business in order to help him get through this economic downturn to date for bounces train nearly two thousand people in personal finance and entrepreneurship skills many of them are youth we've distributed on one and a half million to micro small business and credit building loans committed to two hundred thirty thousand match savings for individual development accounts for out that building have supported over seventy new businesses new and existing businesses creating a hundred fifty jobs have rehabilitated thirty storefronts we have a water shortage and we're not able to have new construction have  also worked with the shiner tribal government to make policy improvements that support private business and personal financial skills among our members i conclude by saying that the native communities have come a long way ninety five percent of our services serve exactly the low income community on behalf of our communities i say will be let time go with great thanks to the fund for all it's accomplished and to the current administration and congress who supported native economic development by securing the native initiatives as a line item the nation's leading nonprofit mission driven lenders for affordable housing two of my favorites happen to be in massachusetts and alabama are here today to talk about how much more we could do helping to sustain our nation's economic recovery with more construction private sector jobs if we only had more capital and liquidity mission is to increase the flow of private capital lending and investing in  family rental housing over the past two years and for the small businesses the monopod landlords the drive the economies of our local communities but successful mission driven nonprofit lenders are struggling more than ever with the need to find capital and liquidity to meet the demand both in urban and rural markets the bottom line is that experienced mission driven nonprofit lenders seem to be the victims of their own success they have few troubled assets most of never had a loss on a loan if they have they count their losses in basis points so the crisis has obscured their unique contributions and their unique ability to help turn this economy around our nonprofit lenders finance affordable housing that family seniors in the disabled are proud to call home and they also preserve expiring portfolios of section eight project contracts in place massachusetts new york traditional commitments to these loans funds private capital has enabled the lenders to finance preservation and construction for main street and businesses in their states but because the demand so outstrip  businesses with a primary purpose jobs and economic growth we think now is the time to utilize that authority number to something else you could increase access to the capital markets for main street  or other government programs fannie and freddie continue to be financing the landlords of the family properties on main street are nonprofit lenders again the ones who have no losses or losses of under one percent currently hold more than a billion and a half into performing low balance family mortgages replenishing these loans funds with thousands of private sector jobs just in two thousand and ten two things that could take a little longer definition you also need to update the two thousand and three regulation changes that caused almost all of five members to no longer be eligible for funding they're outdated they reflect a federal priority in two thousand and twenty percent lost on all qualifying mulder family mortgages pension funds and the archbishop of brooklyn to invest in these loans which they say for two thousand and eight were some of the best investments they ever year impact each of these twenty five around the country just one hundred units would generate amazing one hundred ninety eight million dollars in local income it would generate three thousand and fifty jobs it would generate twenty one million dollars more in revenue for local governments now is the time to expand the program to allow at least twenty five to create the jobs in the construction activity we know brereton you know the hill country of texas used to be a high rate of poverty is it still does it still stand out demographically or what's the situation i'm talking about thirty years ago i was stationed at fort sam when you look at the population of kentucky in appalachian and certainly appalachian alabama compare that to the delta of mississippi louisiana arkansas we're looking at the same situation we all face the same poverty sort of levels and use exactly the same tools which really is the reason why this program is so vital many times we have an almost absence of access to capital but for organizations like ours many people don't want to move into rural parts of louisiana mississippi arkansas kentucky alabama alabama bankers association and said we need some entity to finance tax credits low income housing in alabama so much like carolinas or new york or massachusetts the banking association worked with a housing finance agency so now we have fifty five banks in alabama that every year invest in affordable rental housing they pool their money they diversify their risk savings through in california and in that process they finance with long term fixed rate mortgages all of the tax credit properties all of which are eligible to under sixty percent of your immediate income rosa parks is for seniors and disabled the first affordable rental of that type in the in the state and those those facilities i mean or very you know periods and everything else you wouldn't know it had any subsidy attached to it and sometimes that's the goal these are i truth in labeling the complexity of qualifying for that certification and i'm just going to be honest with you somebody said it earlier when you're surviving is a nonprofit you sometimes can't afford to invest in other resources i have no doubt that help alabama will apply for certification from day one but i think we need to streamline the application process first ok reflects federal priorities not local priorities so going back to alabama the lender doesn't decide where those properties go the state housing finance agency allocates so if we were to go back to the pre two thousand and three regulations for example reflect the ability to leverage in the application process reflect responsiveness to local needs i think we were down to only two of our nonprofit lenders can qualify for funding we because of the community reinvestment act about a third of our funds do come from banks and specifically one example like to share which was the first in the country first in united states as a relationship that we had with city that city looked wanted to micro finance in the united states and didn't know how to underwrite these loans but went and looked at our portfolio looked at how we do our business and vested thirty million dollars that they we are selling part of our portfolio every month to citi so if we had more money would we be able to better meet the demand and still make good