Newsroom

November 21, 2018

HUD's Carson visits CU receiving CDRLF grant

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson visited HUD Federal Credit Union in Washington, D.C., earlier this week as the credit union received its $10,000 grant from the NCUA's Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF) for leadership development.

Carson at HUD FCU
HUD Secretary Ben Carson (center, right) visited HUD Federal Credit Union as it received a grant from the NCUA's CDRLF. NAFCU's Carrie Hunt (front row, fourth from left) also attended the event.

The NCUA awarded grants totaling $2 million to 203 low-income credit unions through the fund in three areas: digital services and security, leadership development and underserved outreach. NAFCU has urged Congress to fully fund the CDRLF and the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund to ensure credit unions can continue to provide financial stability for low-income members and their families.

During its lame-duck session, Congress is expected to finish work on the financial services and general government (FSGG) appropriations measure, along with other government spending provisions. NAFCU has heavily advocated for full funding for the CDRLF and CDFI Fund, which is included in the Senate-passed version of the bill.

NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt was also at Monday's event; Hunt, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger and Senior Regulatory Affairs Counsel Ann Kossachev will meet with Carson next week to discuss affordable housing issues and housing finance reform efforts.

NAFCU has previously met with Carson – and also recently attended a stakeholder update at the department – and shared its core principles for housing finance reform with HUD. The association continues to stress the importance of credit unions' access to the secondary mortgage market through government-sponsored enterprises to provide high-quality loan services to American families.

The association continues to work with Congress, the administration and other government entities to ensure credit unions have unfettered access to the secondary mortgage market in any housing reform efforts.