CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL – Regulatory Update

September 6, 2019

On September 5^th, both the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Treasury released their respective housing finance reform plans. As background, on March 27, 2019, President Trump issued a Memorandum on Federal Housing Finance Reform, directing both HUD and Treasury, as well as several other federal agencies and bureaus, to craft housing finance reform plans with the goal to reform America’s “housing finance system to reduce taxpayer risks, expand the private sector’s role, modernize government housing programs, and make sustainable home ownership for American families our benchmark of success.”

HUD’s Housing Finance Reform Plan provides 67 legislative and administrative recommendations. According to HUD’s press release, the reform plan ensures FHA and Ginnie Mae can continue to serve their important missions effectively, responsibly, and sustainably for many years to come. HUD’s reform plan accomplishes four objectives:

• Refocuses FHA to its core mission;
• Protects American taxpayers;
• Provides FHA and Ginnie Mae the tools to appropriately manage risk; and
• Provides liquidity to the housing finance system.”

Treasury’s Housing Reform Plan provides 49 legislative and administrative recommendations to, according to Treasury’s press release, “define a limited role for the Federal Government in the housing finance system, enhance taxpayer protections against future bailouts, and promote competition in the housing finance system.”

Notably, the plans address multifamily housing in several ways, including limiting the GSEs climbing share of financing in the multifamily market. There is a focus on expanding Ginnie Mae with new authority and moving additional support for affordable housing to HUD.

CARH, along with other industry stakeholders, have and will continue to meet with Administration officials on areas of success and areas where there is a need for improvement in preserving and producing rural affordable housing.

Congressional response to the release of the plans has been swift. The statement from Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chair of the House Financial Services Committee can be found here and the statement from Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), Chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee can be found here. Additionally, the Senate Banking Committee will be holding hearings related to these plans on September 10^th.

CARH will review these plans in detail in the coming weeks and keep you informed of any relevant matters via additional broadcast emails, CARH News articles and updates at CARH’s national meetings. In the meantime, if you have any concerns, please forward them to CARH at carh@carh.org.