The Washington Report

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) publishes housing goals roughly every 3 years that cover the ensuing three years. These goals are targets for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) to provide support to low and very-low income mortgage borrowers. In addition, there is a goal specific to low-income geographies.  This year, the administration chose to lower those goals significantly, while re-structuring one goal that was created under the Biden administration to address gentrification.  The current administration argued that the changes proposed would align the goals with what is in law passed by congress and increase efficiency in the allocation of credit so as not to divert resources away from middle class borrowers.  NAR was supportive of this last point and is supportive the GSE's primary market of middle-class borrowers, however, NAR raised concern with the pull back in goals given the lack of information about the efficacy of proposed changes.

NAR's Comment Letter to the FHFA

NAR responded to the Federal Housing Finance Agencies’ (FHFA) proposed strategic plan for the coming three years. The FHFA seeks to trim many of its duties implemented over the prior four years arguing that several programs are not based in statute, including sharing with the industry information on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's (the GSEs) behavior as well as market research.  While NAR firmly supports adherence to the rule of law, NAR noted that many important changes to the GSEs were made under special powers given by Congress to the FHFA Director that only exist while the GSEs are under their current state of conservatorship. For the FHFA to continue to effectively exercise such powers such as the provision of data and research as well as oversight of the GSEs' counterparties, the FHFA director should request these powers permanently from Congress as the prior two FHFA Directors have done.

NAR's Comment Letter to the FHFA

The Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday approved three of President Trump's nominees for critical housing finance and banking positions, advancing the nominations to the full Senate for consideration. The committee approved Francis Cassidy to serve as FHA Commissioner, Joseph Gormley to serve as Ginnie Mae President, and Travis Hill to serve as permanent FDIC Chair.

NAR previously sent letters to Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren advocating for the swift confirmations of Cassidy, Gormley, and Hill, emphasizing their deep expertise and experience at a time when the U.S. housing market faces a severe affordability crisis. FHA, Ginnie Mae, and FDIC play critical roles in stabilizing and expanding access to housing by insuring loans for low- and moderate-income borrowers (FHA), guaranteeing mortgage-backed securities to attract investment in affordable housing (Ginnie Mae), and safeguarding consumer deposits to maintain trust in the financial system (FDIC). Together, they help ensure the liquidity, affordability, and resilience necessary to address the affordable housing crisis. 

On Monday, November 17th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) announced a new proposed rule to redefine the definition of "waters of the United States," or WOTUS, under the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The goal of the new proposal is to align the definition of WOTUS with the United States Supreme Court 2023 decision Sackett v. EPA which held that WOTUS should include waters which are "relatively permanent" and those wetlands which share a "continuous surface connection" to such waters.

To that end, the proposed rule includes definitions for both "relatively permanent" and "continuous surface connection." Along with those new definitions, the proposed rule includes a definition of "tributary" which would extend WOTUS status only to those tributaries of navigable waters which are "relatively permanent" and have a "bed and band." Additionally, the proposal would exclude "interstate waters" from the WOTUS definition, meaning that simply being a water that crosses state boundaries would not be enough for a water to be recognized as a WOTUS. The proposed rule is subject to a 45-day public comment period before a final rule is issued.

View the pre-publication version of the proposed rule.