Newsroom

Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and other Democratic members of the committee have requested an update on efforts to reform the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and remove them from conservatorship.

The letter, sent this week to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Dr. Mark Calabria and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, stressed that "any reform must strengthen our housing finance system and provide the tools to address the nation's affordable housing crisis" in addition to ensuring "the continued success of the secondary mortgage market."

The senators then posed roughly two dozen questions regarding the administration's housing finance reform plans, including the timeline and benchmarks for reforms, what reforms are needed before the GSEs are released from conservatorship, how the GSEs' levels of capital will be raised, any amendments to the Duty to Serve rule, what analysis will be conducted, and more.

NAFCU last week sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee and Housing Financial Services Committee urging legislative action on housing finance reform following Calabria's announcement that the FHFA expects to re-propose a rule setting capital requirements for the GSEs in the first quarter of 2020.

As the leading voice for credit unions with housing reform discussions, NAFCU has continuously advocated for the importance of maintaining credit unions' unfettered access to the secondary mortgage market and has engaged with Calabria, other administration officials, and lawmakers on the issue.

NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt testified before the Senate Banking Committee in March during which she offered support for a housing finance reform proposal from Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and outlined credit unions' priorities for reform.

The Treasury Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development in September released housing finance reform plans, which included a number of NAFCU-sought provisions. Since then, in addition to updates on the capital requirements proposal, the FHFA released the GSEs' strategic plan and scorecard and reached a deal with the Treasury Department to allow the GSEs to retain more capital.