Washington – Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) released a white paper making a case for the recapitalization of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and continuing the reforms of the GSEs started with the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). The white paper, “Protecting Duties to Serve and Responsible Next Steps for Reforming the Secondary Mortgage Market,” follows a letter sent on October 27 to President Obama signed by NCRC, NAACP, and LULAC urging the Administration to rethink its position on the recapitalization of the GSEs.
NCRC President and CEO John Taylor made the following statement:
“Our dog in this housing finance reform fight is the preservation of the Duties to Serve – the affirmative obligations in the charters of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and in their affordable housing goals.”
“There is so much at stake here for working people. The Duties to Serve are critical mechanisms that help make sure that all creditworthy borrowers have access to responsible mortgage credit – whether they are in urban or rural communities, or moderate-income or low-income communities. The future ability for millions of creditworthy working people to secure conventional mortgage loans, become homeowners, and build wealth is in jeopardy if we lose the Duties to Serve attached to Fannie and Freddie.”
“The best path forward is to recapitalize Fannie and Freddie, end their conservatorship and build on the reforms of strong supervision and oversight that began with the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. Congress simply does not have a viable, coherent plan that would better serve working families. The various piecemeal legislative and administrative approaches to a new housing finance system would ultimately be harmful.”
“If President Obama and this Administration do not act now, it will be much more difficult moving forward to preserve the affordable housing goals that are attached to Fannie and Freddie, which have not been included in any of the legislative proposals put forth.”
The white paper can be read here.
NCRC’s previous statements, letters and papers on housing finance reform can be found here.
