FHLBank Cincinnati Creates $5 Million Fund to Aid Households With Homes Damaged by Natural Disasters

CINCINNATI, March 30, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Households whose residences were destroyed or damaged in natural disasters are eligible for assistance through a new $5 million Disaster Reconstruction Program (DRP) from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati (FHLBank).

The funds were approved by the FHLBank's Board of Directors following a series of tornadoes that struck areas of the South and Midwest on March 2, 2012, killing 41 people and damaging hundreds of homes. The funds can be used by victims of natural disasters in the FHLBank's Fifth District of Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, in counties designated as disaster areas by federal or state agencies. Homeowners whose homes were damaged are eligible for up to $20,000 toward construction, acquisition or repair of their primary residences. Both homeowners and renters displaced by natural disasters are also eligible for up to $20,000 toward the purchase of a home.

Applications for funds will be accepted beginning May 1, 2012. Complete details on eligibility and uses of funds are available at the FHLBank's web site, www.fhlbcin.com.

The FHLBank has a history of responding to housing crises, awarding $3 million to help relocate victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to new homes in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, and nearly $3.5 million in 2008 and 2009 to help Fifth District homeowners avoid foreclosure. "Natural disasters are ultimately housing disasters," said David H. Hehman, President and CEO of the FHLBank. "It is integral to our housing mission that we respond to these crises, to help families and communities rebuild.
 
Eligibility rules for those applying for DRP funds include:

* Eligible households have either been displaced or suffered damage to their primary residence by a federally or state declared disaster occurring within the Fifth District.

* Household income must be less than or equal to 130 percent of the applicable Mortgage Revenue Bond income limits.

* Households must be registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency or appropriate state emergency management agency. In addition, they must have filed for disaster aid from those agencies, and if they have insurance, they must have filed a claim.

* If purchasing or constructing a home, the homebuyer must finance the purchase through an FHLBank member financial institution.

* Allowable expenses include construction, acquisition, or repair of a primary residence, which must be a single-family detached home or manufactured home permanently attached to a fixed foundation and taxed as real property where the applicant is the owner of record. FHLBank funds cannot be used for expenses covered by insurance or state or federal emergency management agencies.

Complete information on eligibility is available at www.fhlbcin.com.

Households seeking assistance may not apply to the FHLBank directly, but should contact a qualified nonprofit housing sponsor in the county where they live, after May 1. A list of these qualified sponsors will be posted on the FHLBank's web site, and will be updated as new sponsors are approved.

The FHLBank is a $60.4 billion congressionally-chartered wholesale regional bank providing financial services for residential housing and economic development to 741 member financial institutions located in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. It has contributed more than $444 million for the creation of nearly 58,600 units of lower-income housing through its Affordable Housing Program since 1990, and more than $15 million through additional, voluntary programs helping thousands to attain or preserve homeownership. The FHLBank System includes 12 district Banks, is wholly owned by its nearly 7,800 member institution stockholders and does not use taxpayer dollars.