WASHINGTON—With a new director nominated to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, CUNA is offering a number of recommendations on which it said it is hopeful the FHFA will act.
In its letter to FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson, who testified before the Senate Housing, Banking and Urban Affairs Committee as part of her nomination, the trade group said, “CUNA strongly supports the FHFA’s mission of ensuring that the GSEs fulfill their statutory missions to support affordable housing, community development, and diversity and inclusion. CUNA supports placing the FHFA’s mission objectives as equal to those related to ending the conservatorship, and we trust that Acting Director Thompson’s experience in the FHFA’s Division of Housing and Mission Goals will bring a renewed mission focus at the Agency.”
Recommendations Made
CUNA also recommends FHFA:
- Work with credit unions to fulfill Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s statutory mission to support affordable housing, community development, and diversity and inclusion
- Address reports of racial discrimination by appraisers through assessing and modernizing appraiser practices and improving the number and diversity of appraisers
- Take actions to further allow the Federal Home Loan Banks to meet to provide reliable liquidity to its member institutions to support housing finance and community investment
- Eventually make a responsible exit from government conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, without sacrificing equitable access and pricing to the secondary market for lenders of all sizes and charter types