FHFA issues three-year plans to improve housing affordability

I Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Monday unveiled its three-year plan for government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae again Freddie Mac improving housing opportunities in underserved areas.

Key pillars of these programs include strengthening access to rural communities, looking at affordable housing as a tool to strengthen supply, and addressing the financial needs of first-time homebuyers.

Required under separate regulatory frameworks, FHFA has submitted plans as part of the 2025-2027 Duty to Serve (DTS) requirements and the 2025-2027 Equitable Housing Finance Plans (EHFPs).

DTS programs aim to address the shortfall in spending on all manufactured housing, preservation of affordable housing and rural housing. Meanwhile, EHFPs “contain strategies to ensure that homeowners and renters in all communities have affordable and stable housing opportunities,” the agency explained.

FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said these programs are designed to further the mission of FHFA and the GSEs to better support home borrowers and tenants across the country.

“It is important that new ideas to address the needs of underserved markets are implemented and scaled up in rural communities and other areas that face accessibility and affordability challenges,” said Thompson.

Specific to the DTS programs, FHFA says it has “increased funding to provide nearly 690,000 rental homes and more than 90,000 owner-occupied homes. For the first time, Enterprise’s Underserved Markets Plans include strategies to help communities in every rural market, in addition to the high-need rural population defined by the regulations.”

Each GSE will take different steps to assess the potential impacts of these programs. These include six “Developer Development” educational centers from Freddie Mac, with the aim of better addressing the potential of housing development in rural areas. And Fannie Mae will “focus on enabling rural Community Development Financial Institutions to access secondary markets,” FHFA explained.

The GSEs’ programs include provisions for housing communities designed to “better support owners who voluntarily reduce rent increases for rental pads.” The DTS and EHFP programs are available on separate, online websites dedicated to FHFA.

Related