The Obama administration’s 2011 budget plan released Feb. 1 did not include a blueprint for reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as had been expected. In a press briefing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan told reporters that an Administration statement would be forthcoming “shortly.”
On Jan. 22, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) sent ripples through the financial sector when he said that he favored “abolishing the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) in their present form and coming up with a whole new system of housing finance.” Chairman Frank scheduled a hearing on housing finance reform for March 2 and invited NAA/NMHC to testify on the importance of the secondary market to the apartment sector. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and HUD Secretary Donovan also were set to testify.
NAA/NMHC will continue to urge lawmakers not to restrict the supply of multifamily capital as they reform the single-family financing process.