FHFA Proposes New Housing Goals for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has proposed its housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2022 to 2024. This year, FHFA is proposing two new single-family home purchase subgoals to replace the existing low-income areas subgoal. One new subgoal targets minority communities; the other continues to target low-income neighborhoods. The new minority census tract subgoal is designed to improve access to fair and sustainable mortgage financing in communities of color.  A mortgage qualifies under the new subgoal if:

• the borrower has an income at or below area median income (AMI); and
• the property is in a census tract where the median income is at or below AMI and minorities make up at least 30% of the population.

“The new subgoal for minority census tracts was designed to help preserve and support affordable housing in communities of color," said FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson. "The subgoal benefits families at or below area median income, allowing them to stay in the communities they helped build." Single-Family Housing Goals:

​​​​Current and Proposed Single-Family Goals (percentage of overall qualified si​ngle-family purchases) ​
​Single-Family Goals	Current Benchmark Level   2018-2021	Proposed Benchmark Level 2022-2024
Low-Income Home Purchase Goal	24%	28%
Very Low-Income Home Purchase Goal	6%	7%
Minority Census Tracts Home Purchase Subgoal (New)		10%
Low-Income Census Tracts Home Purchase Subgoal (New)	​	4%
Low-Income Refinance Goal	21%	26%

  Multifamily Housing Goals:

​Current and Proposed Mu​ltifamily Goals (number of multifamily units) ​ ​
Multifamily Goals	Current Level   2018-2021	Proposed Level 2022-2024
Low-Income Goal	315,000	415,000
Very Low-Income Subgoal	60,000	88,000
Small Multifamily (5-50 Units) Low-Income Subgoal	10,000	23,000

FHFA will be taking comments on the proposed rule for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register and NAHB intends to weigh in.