The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) set a number of new guidelines in place for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it comes to their multifamily business, including changes to the structure on volume caps, according to a press release highlighting an interview with Walker & Dunlop, included as part of the firm’s 2020 Winter Multifamily Outlook report where FHFA Director Mark Calabria discusses the benefits that these new guidelines facilitate.
“The new multifamily caps eliminate loopholes, provide ample support for the market, ensure the GSEs play a more countercyclical role and significantly increase affordable housing support over previous levels,” Calabria said in the report.
Under the new caps, Calabria explained, FHFA directs that at least 37.5 percent of the GSEs’ multifamily business be mission-driven, affordable housing.
“This new minimum of 37.5 percent, approximately 10 percent more affordable housing than previous levels, responsibly assures that the GSEs’ multifamily businesses have a strong and sustained commitment to tackling our nation’s housing affordability challenges,” he said.
Calabria also detailed why bringing the GSEs out of conservatorship has been such a high priority since he assumed FHFA directorship last April.
“Ending the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) is not an objective, its FHFA’s statutory responsibility,” he said.
In the interview with Walker & Dunlop, the FHFA director also discussed the GSEs’ market share in the multifamily lending arena, and where he believes they’ll make the deepest inroads in addressing the nation’s affordable housing crisis.