Federal Register Comments
Shawn Poynter / There Is More Work To Be Done
Shawn Poynter / There Is More Work To Be Done
HAC’s comments to the FHFA aim to improve Duty to Serve program
The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) offered comments on Duty to Serve as the Enterprises (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) react to the housing and economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and work to plan for the future of Duty to Serve. Our country is facing an unprecedented health and economic challenge, and Duty to Serve remains critically important to help rural areas weather the storm.
HAC’s comments covered all three Duty to Serve markets (rural housing, manufactured housing, and affordable housing preservation) and called for:
- More transparent data availability so that stakeholders can better understand Duty to Serve progress and areas for improvement.
- Continued investment in building partnerships with existing housing providers including local, regional and national nonprofits; tribes; and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) who already work in high-need communities,
- More ambitious loan purchase goals in all three Duty to Serve markets.
HAC firmly sees Duty to Serve as a social justice issue. In an era in which racial and economic inequities are top-of-the-fold news stories, we can use Duty to Serve to go past minimum promised levels of loan purchase and try to fundamentally shift the lives of Black, Hispanic, Indigenous and persistently poor families.
