Affordable housing

The California Democrat would have more of a bully pulpit as chair of the Financial Services Committee, but some say she could take a pragmatic approach to passing banking legislation.

The Democratic congresswoman said the department under Secretary Ben Carson has turned "its back on its mission."

Instead of shrinking the GSEs, the housing regulator is letting them expand into a host of new products and programs.

The groups applauded a proposal to establish minimum GSE capital requirements, but called for more immediate steps to release the companies from conservatorship.

The dominant player in manufactured housing lauded the Trump administration's review of construction standards, but other commenters worry the plan will undermine housing quality.

Lawmakers approved a measure to increase the program's funding by nearly $3 billion over four years.

The Federal Home Loan banks could "design and implement" their own system for deciding how to allocate resources for affordable housing initiatives under the proposal by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Banking and affordable housing advocates are encouraged by a provision in the tax reform legislation that could increase investment in underserved communities by allowing investors to defer capital gains taxes when they reinvest in federally chartered Opportunity Funds.

Since stepping down as CEO of Webster Bank last month, James Smith has spent much of his time co-chairing a panel tasked with solving his home state’s fiscal and economic woes. Banks, and perhaps even fintechs, could be a part of its comeback story, he says.

The House Financial Services Committee chairman is calling out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator for authorizing payments to two housing trust funds while the mortgage giants have their own financial struggles.

Freddie Mac posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.3 billion and will request $312 million from the Treasury after recent tax reform legislation forced it to write down the value of deferred tax assets.

Despite a legislative push by some senators and other stakeholders to jump-start housing finance reform, efforts to form consensus over a bill once again are stuck in neutral.

Supporters of an unreleased bill to revamp the housing finance system say the plan strikes a middle ground that can gain support from both sides of the aisle.

Craig Phillips, a top aide to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said his department "broadly" agrees with the FHFA plan, which would return Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the private market and provide them an explicit government guarantee.

The tax law is expected to eliminate 300,000 affordable housing units over 10 years in part because it will reduce the value of banks’ low-income tax credits, which finance half of all affordable housing units.

For decades, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac helped working-class Americans get mortgages. That essential and powerful role in the national economy is fading.

The FHFA is allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest in the credits for the first time since they entered conservatorship. Its purpose is to promote affordable housing in underserved markets.

Housing advocates are pressing Senate Republicans to expand the low-income housing tax credit program while pushing back against a House GOP plan that would eliminate financing for half of all affordable housing units.

In light of the recent disbursement of nearly $40 million in grants to credit unions from The Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Credit Union Journal surveyed some credit unions which have received CDFI grants in the past to find out how these funds are being used.

The prospect of a lower corporate rate resulting from looming tax reform discussions may be a blessing for the industry, but it could be bittersweet for one particular group of bankers.