Affordable housing

The 11 Federal Home Loan banks play an essential role in the housing market and in local economies. Cutting their community ties would damage their ability to fulfill that mission.

A bill being introduced by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., would compel the Federal Home Loan Bank System to contribute 30%, or a minimum of $200 million, of each bank's net earnings into affordable housing or other community development programs.

Shrinking the Federal Home Loan Bank System from 11 banks to eight would save members money, improve efficiency and generate more money for affordable housing.

The government conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wasn't meant to last forever, but releasing the companies is complicated and should involve a diffident Congress, housing policy experts said during a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta housing panel.

A proposal to tie cancellation of private mortgage insurance policies to automated valuation models would add unnecessary risk to mortgage portfolios and would result in less, not more, affordable housing.

The government-sponsored enterprises were not meant to remain in conservatorship permanently, but privatizing them once again must include a new set of rules that minimize market disruptions and maximize their focus on making homeownership affordable.

The incoming administration will have a number of tools at its disposal to immediately pare back stifling federal regulation of financial services and boost the housing market. It should use them.

Existing efforts to reform the Federal Home Loan Bank System may look dead on arrival in a Trump administration, but the proposed Department of Government Efficiency may not be able to resist such low-hanging fruit.

U.S. military veterans and active duty personnel have four mortgage industry participants looking to enhance their ability to take advantage of their benefits.

The Home Loan banks have been a stable source of community bank funding for generations. An unnecessary regulatory crackdown now puts that reliability in question.