The Week Ahead: FHFA Provides Guidance on Underserved Markets

This coming week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will be hosting a series of Duty to Serve Listening Sessions.

The Duty to Serve (DTS) program requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs) to facilitate a secondary market for mortgages on housing for very low-, low-, and moderate-income families in three underserved markets: Manufactured Housing, Affordable Housing Preservation, and Rural Housing.

There will be three virtual Listening Sessions with each session focusing on a different underserved market:

• Session 1: Rural Housing, July 12, 2021
• Session 2: Affordable Housing Preservation, July 13, 2021
• Session 3: Manufactured Housing, July 14, 2021

Each session will begin at 1:00 p.m. EDT and conclude by 4:00 p.m. EDT.

In late May, the FHFA published its proposed 2022-2024 Underserved Markets Plans, submitted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the DTS program. The proposed Plans cover the period from January 1, 2022-December 31, 2024.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 amended the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 to establish a duty for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to serve three specified underserved markets–manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing–by advancing the liquidity of mortgage investments, and improving the distribution of investment capital available to facilitate a secondary market for residential financing for very low-, low-, and moderate-income families in those underserved markets.

The DTS regulation, which implements the statutory provisions, requires the GSEs to prepare Plans detailing the specific objectives and activities they plan to implement to fulfill the DTS mandate. This request seeks public input on activities and objectives proposed by the GSEs to be implemented under their 2022-2024 Plans. The DTS regulation requires FHFA to post proposed Plans on its website as soon as practical after submission to FHFA for review, with public input pursuant to the timeframe and procedures established by FHFA.

Click here for more information on the FHFA's Duty to Serve Listening Sessions.

Here's what else is happening in The Week Ahead:

• MBA’s Forbearance and Call Volume Survey (Monday)
• MBA Weekly Applications Survey (Wednesday)
• Realtor.com Weekly Housing Market Recap (Wednesday)
• U.S. House Committee on Financial Services: Virtual Hearing—Monetary Policy and the State of the Economy (Wednesday)
• Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (Thursday)
• U.S. Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report (Thursday)
• U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Hearing: The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress (Thursday)
• U.S. House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations: Virtual Hearing—CDBG Disaster Recovery: States, Cities, and Denials of Funding (Thursday)
• Black Knight weekly forbearance data (Friday)