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NAFCU Regulatory Affairs Counsel PJ Hoffman urged flexibility for government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a comment letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency Tuesday on the agency's 2015-2017 enterprise housing goals.

The goals established by FHFA set out what portion of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolios must consist of loans for borrowers in underserved areas or groups. Hoffman noted that the proposed goal benchmarks are either the same or higher than those for the 2012-14 period.

"As the Enterprises continue to operate under FHFA's conservatorship, it is important that the FHFA regularly perform thorough analysis of its regulations that apply to the entities," Hoffman wrote. "However, NAFCU believes that the Enterprises should have flexibility necessary to determine how best to stabilize and improve the conditions of their respective portfolios."

Hoffman wrote that NAFCU supports the proposal, but urges that any change "should not be so drastic as to create unnecessary obstacles to continued access for credit unions, who need a stable and equitable secondary market to have continued access to liquidity."

NAFCU continues to advocate for housing reform that guarantees access for credit unions to the secondary mortgage market, and fair prices based on loan quality rather than volume.