Fannie Mae Updates Equitable Housing Finance Plan

WASHINGTON, DC – Fannie Mae (FNMA/OTCQB) today released its annual update to the 2022-2024 Equitable Housing Finance Plan (the Plan) to knock down housing and homeownership barriers faced by historically underserved consumers and communities across the United States.

The 2024 Plan updates reflect Fannie Mae’s intention to expand and scale its efforts, particularly those related to helping consumers safely and soundly overcome barriers related to limited credit history, burdensome up-front housing costs/ access to credit, and financial and property resiliency.

The three-year Equitable Housing Finance Plan addresses the key obstacles faced by historically underserved consumers, renters, and homeowners. The 2024 Plan outlines 23 specific actions that expand upon the innovations and lessons learned from the first two years, and includes two new actions:

• Expanding pre-purchase counseling support for near mortgage-ready first-time homebuyers recognizing that counseling is a service that can help consumers engage more confidently with their trusted advisors as they secure housing.
• Creating a standard definition for “first-generation homebuyer” that Fannie Mae and other housing market participants can use to evaluate and develop new ways to address the disparities correlated to the lack of savings or generational wealth.

In the first two years of the Equitable Housing Finance Plan, Fannie Mae established the groundwork to address housing disparities affecting historically underserved consumers and made progress on achieving its goals through the combined efforts of lenders, industry partners, and community stakeholders. In 2023, the Plan scaled various actions from the previous years, including:

• Expanded opportunities for renters to benefit from on-time rent reporting to credit bureaus that help consumers establish or increase their credit scores and improve mortgage access through our underwriting technology innovations that consider on-time rent pay histories.
• Provided affordable housing solutions, down payment assistance, and financial counseling support through our Innovation Challenge winners in historically underserved rural and urban communities.
• Reduced the barrier of up-front housing costs for creditworthy first-time homebuyers through the special purpose credit program pilot, HomeReady® First, enabling increased access to homeownership opportunities.
• Enhanced financial literacy, housing counseling, and homeownership education to support consumers in buying and maintaining a home.

“We have continued to build the infrastructure for a housing ecosystem that is fair and sustainable for all consumers,” said Katrina Jones, Vice President of Housing Equity Strategy & Impact. “The housing environment today is not without its challenges – and it underscores the need to continue innovating and working together to ensure that access to affordable housing opportunities is available to everyone. We are encouraged by the achievements of the Plan and are looking forward to its ongoing success in making the housing system fairer and more equitable.”

Details on the Plan’s actions and initiatives are outlined in the 2024 Equitable Housing Finance Plan and 2023 Performance Report.

To learn more about Fannie Mae’s ongoing efforts to support the housing ecosystem, read Katrina Jones’ Perspectives blog.