The Washington Post: September, 10 2019: Trump’s housing finance plan will make mortgages more expensive, especially for black borrowers, housing groups say
The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the country’s housing finance system would make mortgages more expensive for minority borrowers and aspiring homeowners in the South, the Midwest and rural communities, according to fair housing and lending groups.
The plans, unveiled last week by the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments, would end government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which purchase mortgage loans and package them into securities that they guarantee. The proposal also recommends eliminating the mortgage backers’ affordable housing goals and introducing competition that experts say could further reduce access to credit for low-income communities.
“This plan would interject new entities that would cream the market by seeking to serve the most lucrative regions and borrowers,” such as New York and San Francisco, where home values have skyrocketed, said Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending. “The very communities that need greater access to mortgage credit — communities of color, specifically — would have great difficulty securing credit.”
