Senators ask for update on GSE reform

Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and other Democratic members of the committee have requested an update on efforts to reform the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and remove them from conservatorship.

The letter, sent this week to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Dr. Mark Calabria and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, stressed that “any reform must strengthen our housing finance system and provide the tools to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis” in addition to ensuring “the continued success of the secondary mortgage market.”

The senators then posed roughly two dozen questions regarding the administration’s housing finance reform plans, including the timeline and benchmarks for reforms, what reforms are needed before the GSEs are released from conservatorship, how the GSEs’ levels of capital will be raised, any amendments to the Duty to Serve rule, what analysis will be conducted, and more.

NAFCU last week sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee and Housing Financial Services Committee urging legislative action on housing finance reform following Calabria’s announcement that the FHFA expects to re-propose a rule setting capital requirements for the GSEs in the first quarter of 2020.

 

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