Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief 

Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Program Summary by Budget Activity 

Dollars in Thousands 

 FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2018 TO FY 2019

Budget Activity Enacted** Annualized 

CR Request $ Change % Change

Community Development Financial Institutions 

Program $161,500 $160,403 $0 ($160,403) -100.00%

Bank Enterprise Award Program $23,000 $22,844 $0 ($22,844) -100.00%

Native American CDFI Assistance Program $15,500 $15,395 $0 ($15,395) -100.00%

Administration $26,000 $25,823 $14,000 ($11,823) -45.78%

Healthy Food Financing Program $22,000 $21,851 $0 ($21,851) -100.00%

Subtotal, CDFI Fund $248,000 $246,316 $14,000 ($232,316) -94.32%

User Fees * $415 $700 $1,000 $300 42.86%

Recovery From Prior Years $642 $3,400 $2,500 ($900) -26.47%

Unobligated Balances Brought Forward $28,312 $32,606 $5,000 ($27,606) -84.67%

Total Program Operating Level $29,369 $36,706 $8,500 ($28,206) -76.84%

Direct FTE 74 77 42 (35) -45.45%

Total FTE 74 77 42 (35) -45.45%

* FY 2017 User Fees reflects authorization of the Bond Guarantee Program. 

** This column reflects levels appropriated in H.R. 255, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017. For further details on the 

execution of these resources see the 2019 Budget Appendix chapter for the Department of the Treasury. FY 2017 FTE employment 

level reflects actuals, and the $ amount represents 2017 Enacted. 

Summary 

The FY 2019 Budget requests an appropriation 

of $14,000,000 for the Community 

Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) 

Fund to maintain the existing portfolio of 

loans and grants and to administer the Bond 

Guarantee (BG) and New Markets Tax 

Credit (NMTC) Programs. The CDFI Fund 

supports Treasury’s strategic goals of Boosting 

U.S. Economic Growth and Transforming 

Government-wide Financial Stewardship. 

Explanation of Budget Activities 

Administration: $14,000,000 from Direct 

Appropriations 

Administration encompasses the CDFI Fund’s 

operational support and management activities 

for the BG Program, the NMTC Program, and 

ongoing certification of and compliance 

monitoring for all programs including the 

Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program, the 

CDFI Program, the Native American CDFI 

Assistance (NACA) Program, and the 

Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). 

Legislative Proposals 

The Budget requests extension of the CDFI 

BG Program through December 31, 2019 to 

allow more time to close complex and timeconsuming bond commitments. 

The CDFI BG Program injects new capital 

into our nation’s most distressed communities 

by providing guarantees of bonds issued by 

Qualified Issuers. CDFIs can gain from the 

potential scale of the CDFI BG Program, 

which offers low-cost, long-term credit for the 

development of commercial real estate, rental 

housing, senior living, daycare or healthcare 

centers, charter schools, small businesses, and 

rural infrastructure, among others. The 

benefits of the program are realized at no cost 

to taxpayers, because the program requires no 

credit subsidy. The Budget proposes the 
Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief 

following legislative changes to the BG 

Program: (1) reduce the minimum bond issue 

size from $100 million to $50 million; and 

(2) revise the relending account language to 

correct a technical drafting error. 

The Budget also proposes to eliminate new 

allocations into the Capital Magnet Fund 

(CMF) effective in FY 2019. This would 

eliminate recurrent funding of the CMF 

through allocations from the GovernmentSponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and 

Freddie Mac. The Budget assumes no funds 

will be provided to the CMF in 2018 in 

accordance with the Federal Housing Finance 

Agency's 2014 stated policy that funds will not 

be transferred if the transfer would cause the 

GSEs to draw on the Treasury funding 

commitment under the Preferred Stock 

Purchase Agreements (PSPAs). The Budget 

anticipates that such a draw will occur in 2018 

as a result of the enactment of tax reform 

legislation. 

Description of Performance 

The CDFI Fund awarded $193 million to 303 

organizations, including $171 million in 

financial and technical assistance awards and 

$22 million for the HFFI awards for the FY 

2017 funding round of the CDFI Program. In 

addition, the CDFI Fund awarded $15.6 

million in grants to 38 Native CDFIs for the 

FY 2017 funding round of the NACA 

Program. 

CDFI Program awardees reported that more 

than 81 percent of loans in FY 2017 were 

originated in distressed communities and to 

underserved populations. Regulations require 

CDFIs must originate 60 percent or more of 

their loans and investments in eligible 

distressed census tracts or to underserved 

populations. The threshold is set at 60 percent 

in recognition of the fact that CDFIs may need 

to address safety and soundness by 

maintaining a diversified portfolio. Loans in 

highly distressed areas may be higher risk and 

more costly to underwrite and originate. The 

trend for FYs 2013 - 2016 indicates that CDFI 

awardees have been successful in meeting 

their mission of serving distressed 

communities and underserved populations 

while maintaining sound investment portfolio 

performance. 

In FY 2017, 30 prior HFFI awardees reported 

making 376 HFFI investments totaling $168.8 

million. There were 179 retail investments 

totaling over $139 million that developed 

2,431,936 square feet of new retail space for 

projects ranging from small green grocers to 

large supermarkets that serve low-income, 

low-access census tracts. In addition, there 

were 197 non-retail investments totaling over 

$29 million in projects involving production 

and distribution, which developed 1,277,246 

square feet of space for eligible healthy food 

activities. 

The award cycle time is the average time from 

the date when applications are received to the 

date of award announcement (calculated in 

months as a weighted average). In FY 2017, 

the cycle time was 6.3 months, exceeding the 

target of 7 months. 

CDFI, NMTC, and CMF Program awardees 

and allocation recipients reported 27,433 

affordable housing units were developed or 

produced as a result of CDFI Fund awards in 

FY 2017. For FY 2018, the target remains 

28,000 affordable housing units. The target 

reflects projected outcomes for program 

investments from prior-year award recipients’ 

reported eligible affordable housing projects. 

The calendar year 2015 and 2016 NMTC 

investment authority was allocated in 

November 2016 as a combined round. The 

NMTC Program awarded $7 billion in NMTC 

investment authority to 120 Community 

Development Entities (CDE) from a pool of 

238 applicants. In FY 2017, 77.5 percent of 

NMTC investments were made in severely 
Department of the Treasury – Budget in Brief 

distressed communities, exceeding the target 

by more than three percentage points. This 

performance indicates that CDEs continue to 

meet their commitments in severely distressed 

communities.