The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its inaugural Mission Report that describes the activities of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) in 2021 to provide greater access to financing for targeted economic development and affordable, equitable and sustainable housing.
The 2021 Mission Report shows that Fannie and Freddie acquired more than 360,000 homeownership loans through their affordable housing programs, with 62% of acquisitions being loans to first-time home buyers.
The GSEs acquired nearly $140 billion in multifamily loans (totaling over 1.3 million units). Fifty-seven percent of those loan acquisitions qualified as mission-driven affordable housing loans under Appendix A of the Conservatorship Scorecard. The GSEs acquired more than 110,000 DTS single-family loans. Of those loans, more than 20,000 were affordable to very low-income borrowers. More than 70% of DTS loans acquired were in the rural housing market.
“FHFA is committed to promoting affordability, equity, and sustainability in the nation’s housing finance markets,” says FHFA Director Sandra L. Thompson. “Our regulated entities have made progress in many mission-driven areas, and we will continue to improve affordable housing opportunities to support homeowners and renters.”
The GSEs purchased loans on nearly 156,000 DTS multifamily units. More than 48% of those units were affordable to very low-income households. More than 75% of DTS units financed by Fannie/Freddie loan purchases were in the affordable housing preservation market.
From 2018 to 2021, the FHLBanks provided almost $1.7 billion under their AHPs, supporting more than 168,000 units for low- or moderate-income households, including more than 88,000 very low-income units. The FHLBanks provided close to $22 billion in CIP housing and CICA targeted economic development advances, with the CIP supporting over 83,000 units for households with incomes at or below 115 percent of area median income.
As part of FHFA’s oversight of the regulated entities, FHFA ensures a focus on mission-driven activities to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the mortgage market through enterprise programs and initiatives such as Housing Goals, Duty to Serve (DTS), Fair Lending and the Conservatorship Scorecard as well as FHLBank programs, including the Affordable Housing Program (AHP) and the Community Investment Program (CIP).
The FHLBanks also provide funds to support targeted economic development lending by their member financial institutions through their CIPs and Community Investment Cash Advance (CICA) Programs.
Image: Gustavo Zambelli on Unsplash
