Chicago Fed Focuses on Banking and Housing

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is focusing on two major economic issues this September, with events addressing the challenges facing community banks and the growing pressure around housing affordability.

The bank held its 20th Annual Community Bankers Symposium on Sept. 10 and is preparing to host Housing Affordability 2026: A Community Development Summit on Sept. 22–23.

The Community Bankers Symposium, held at the Chicago Fed’s headquarters at 230 South LaSalle Street, brought together banking professionals, policymakers, regulators and economists. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors co-hosted the event.

This year’s theme, “Community Banking in the New Normal,” focused on industry developments, regulatory priorities and the economic outlook for community lenders.

The symposium has been part of the Chicago Fed’s calendar since 2006. Its latest edition came as community banks continue to navigate changing interest rates, new technology requirements and pressure in portions of the commercial real estate market.

The event also included an optional Cyber Simulation Lab Workshop on Sept. 9, allowing participants to focus on cybersecurity preparedness before the main symposium.

The issues discussed this year followed several topics highlighted during the 2025 gathering, including cyber risk, commercial real estate exposure, fraud prevention, contingency funding and consumer compliance.

At last year’s symposium, Chicago Fed President and CEO Austan Goolsbee described community banks as “the economy’s engines of progress and growth,” pointing to their role in providing households and small businesses with financial guidance, mortgages and business loans.

Later this month, the Chicago Fed will shift its attention toward another major economic challenge.

Housing Affordability 2026: A Community Development Summit is scheduled for Sept. 22–23. The event will bring community leaders together with Federal Reserve community development specialists from across the country to discuss research, analysis, and practical approaches to housing affordability.

The summit comes as housing costs remain a significant issue in Chicago and throughout the Federal Reserve’s Seventh District, which includes all of Iowa and most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Research published by the Chicago Fed in June examined changes in housing affordability across U.S. and Seventh District counties between 2000 and 2023. The analysis found widening differences in the relationship between home prices and median household income across the region.

The research also indicated that affordability trends differed depending on local economic conditions, including GDP and employment growth, underscoring the difficulty of applying a single policy approach across different communities.

Another Chicago Fed event in May focused on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the approaching expiration of affordability restrictions on a large number of properties.

Nearly one million LIHTC units nationwide are expected to reach the end of their rent restrictions over the next decade. In markets where unrestricted rents are higher, those expirations could reduce the supply of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households even though the properties themselves remain in use.

Across the Seventh District, that challenge is unfolding alongside higher construction costs, rising insurance expenses and tighter lending conditions that have complicated the development of new affordable housing.

The September summit is expected to examine tools and strategies that community development organizations, housing finance agencies and local governments can use to respond to those pressures.

Both September events offer in-person participation as well as remote options. Registration for Housing Affordability 2026 remains available through the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.