On September 7, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) are each to develop and implement a three-year equitable housing finance plan in order to identify and address barriers to sustainable housing opportunities.
"For generations, discriminatory practices like redlining have prevented communities of color from building wealth through homeownership," said FHFA Acting Director Sandra L. Thompson. "By identifying the barriers to equitable and sustainable housing finance opportunities and setting goals for addressing those barriers, the Enterprises, consistent with safety and soundness, can responsibly reduce the racial and ethnic disparities in homeownership and wealth that still exist today."
FHFA is requiring the Enterprises to include objectives, measurable goals and planned meaningful actions related to the following, in their first plans:
- Reducing the racial or ethnic homeownership gap; and
- Reducing underinvestment or undervaluation in formerly redlined areas that remain racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty or otherwise underserved or undervalued.
FHFA also presented a list of additional objectives that could be undertaken in the plan that included the following pertaining to multifamily:
- Reducing racial or ethnic disparities in tenant screening, repayment options, and evictions;
- Increasing the supply of affordable housing available in areas with access to educational, transportation, economic, and other important opportunities;
- Reducing underinvestment or undervaluation in other (non-redlined) areas that remain underserved or undervalued;
- Increasing the supply of affordable housing that is accessible for persons with disabilities and available in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of an individual with a disability;
- Increasing the supply of affordable housing available to families with children in areas with access to educational, transportation, economic, and other important opportunities; and
- Increasing sustainable housing opportunities for renters living in multifamily properties financed by the Enterprise’s loan purchases, such as by prohibiting source of income discrimination, providing other tenant protections, requiring reporting of on-time payments to credit bureaus, and facilitating accessibility for persons with disabilities.
The Enterprises’ plans must be submitted by December 31, 2021, and will be effective beginning in 2022. As part of the announcement, FHFA is seeking public input and information through a Request for Input (RFI) to aid the Enterprises in developing their plans. The RFI deadline for submitting comments is October 25, 2021. As part of this information gathering effort FHFA will host a public virtual listening session on September 28, 2021.
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