Alaska News

AHFC caught in Catch-22 abyss approving non-conforming loans

Jim Crawford recently wrote about AHFC and the "falling apart" 4,000 homes in Alaska. His article is quite interesting and raises many points, such as the idea that AHFC policies actually increase the cost of housing, and even more curious, that AHFC has a better return of investment than the Permanent Fund!

In 2010 AHFC made only one non-conforming loan.

The AHFC guidelines for non-conforming loans have the following curious language: "Non-conforming housing must be structurally sound and pose no health and safety hazards to the occupants." Additionally, non-conforming loans cannot be made for properties with "limited marketability" or "suffering from deferred maintenance."

Such guidelines paradoxically prevent lending to improve the health, safety, and affordability of housing in Alaska. Perhaps this is why AHFC only made one non-conforming loan last year.

-- Jed Whittaker

Anchorage

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