Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte's pursuit of activities usually reserved for the inspector general — including
At a time when the median age to purchase a home has climbed a decade to 36, according to the National Association of Realtors, America cannot afford theatrics from the very regulator tasked with protecting their future.
Instead of organizing press conferences or
The FHFA was created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, or HERA, with a clear mission: to ensure the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System; to maintain liquidity and stability in the secondary mortgage market; and to support affordable housing and community investment. Congress deliberately designed FHFA as an independent regulator to insulate housing finance from the very kind of partisanship now distracting its leadership.
When I served under retired FHFA Director Sandra Thompson as head of congressional affairs and communications and a member of her senior staff, our priorities were clear: maintain access to liquidity, avoid market panic, strengthen investor confidence and engage stakeholders on solutions to the housing supply crisis. I was in the room when we met with borrowers, tenants, lenders and elected officials, gathering insights to strengthen the agency's effectiveness and the housing system at large. Having now served four government agency heads directly, I know they do not spend their time frivolously on social media. They're simply just too busy. Moreover, roughly a dozen legal, communications and front-office advisors usually weigh in on posts to avoid inadvertent signals to markets.
So why is the FHFA's chief diverting the agency's legal, communications, and government relations staff into areas best left to inspectors general and oversight committees? If the FHFA director wants to strengthen housing supply, he should look to activating bipartisan-supported recommendations that he already has control over.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent bulletin warning banks that past debanking actions could affect supervisory reviews is the latest effort to put the president's executive order on debanking into action. But industry sources say the order itself forces banks to choose between pleasing their regulators and taking on unwanted risk.
First, finish Federal Home Loan Bank System reform. Created in 1932 under Republican President Herbert Hoover to stabilize housing finance during the Great Depression, the system today provides privileged access to liquidity and generous returns to shareholders. FHFA's own
Second, get out of Washington and listen to real people. During my tenure, I traveled with Director Thompson to Atlanta, where housing leaders and local officials pioneered manufactured home solutions that reduced costs while preserving quality. We also visited Navarre Village, Ohio, to hear from seniors struggling with rising rents on fixed incomes. We had difficult conversations with tenants in Kansas City, Missouri, living in substandard conditions who wanted nothing more than decent and safe accommodations to raise their families. These conversations highlighted real needs and opportunity and strengthened the agency's policy effectiveness.
Third, don't forget congressional accountability. Under HERA, the FHFA director is typically required to testify annually before both House and Senate financial services and oversight committees. Those hearings are lengthy, under oath and often accompanied by document requests — emails, calendars and communications made public. A prudent regulator leads with mission, not controversy, because everything is eventually scrutinized. I trust FHFA's seasoned advisors have warned senior officials of this reality — or at least I hope they have.
America is facing a housing affordability crisis. Blurring the line between FHFA's statutory mission and activities more suited for inspectors general or partisan actors risks undermining confidence in a system whose failure once triggered the Great Recession. The agency should be a bulwark against instability, ensuring that lenders remain strong, liquidity flows where it's needed, and that today's students and young professionals can look forward to buying a home before middle age. The current FHFA director's approach makes the system more fragile and threatens confidence in an institution that helped shield the nation from another subprime mortgage collapse.
It's time for FHFA to return to its statutory, independent mission and focus on expanding access to safe, decent and affordable housing — not distractions better left to oversight bodies. That is the independence Congress intended. That is the leadership Americans deserve.
