While appearing at the Mortgage Bankers Association annual conference, FHFA Director Melvin Watt provided attendees with a “sneak preview” of the agency’s 2017 Scorecard, which won’t be officially released until the end of the year.
“An area we’ll be asking the Enterprises to focus on next year will be research to enhance our efforts to increase responsible access to credit and affordable housing,” Watt said in prepared remarks. “We want the Enterprises to intensify their research and analysis about barriers to access to credit and opportunities that could help overcome those barriers.”
The Enterprises – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – will be expected to begin pilot programs and initiatives to move the access to credit needle safely and soundly, but also significantly. The Enterprises’ efforts won’t be limited to access to homeownership, either.
“Because we recognize that not everyone is able to be a successful homeowner, access to affordable rental housing will also continue to be a very high priority for us,” Watt added. “Providing access to affordable rental housing has also been a major challenge.”
The Enterprises will be tasked with exploring other ways to more fully support liquidity in the affordable segment of the multifamily market, Watt said.
“In addition to these and other scorecard items, we are also well on our way to completing our duty to serve rulemaking, which will implement a provision in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 that requires the Enterprises to support three underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and rural housing,” Watt continued.
The agency is working to publish a final rule by the end of this year, or early next year.
Once that is completed, Watt stated that the FHFA’s efforts will turn to fully implementing its process to oversee and evaluate the Enterprises’ duty to serve activities.
“We would also like to chart a way forward on language access issues. Our objective is to work with the Enterprises, the industry and consumer advocates to look for ways to increase opportunities to lend to borrowers with limited English proficiency, while ensuring that these borrowers are able to understand the terms of the mortgage credit they receive,” Watt said. “We expect to release a request for input on language access issues and, as has become customary, we hope to receive a wide range of responses and input from all parts of the housing and mortgage sector.”
Watt stated that discussions have made it clear that there are many legal and practical concerns to be addressed in this area.
“This is by no means a full list of the work we project for 2017, but I hope it gives you a flavor for some of the things we hope to accomplish,” Watt concluded.