Fannie Mae Updates Equitable Housing Finance Plan
Fannie Mae released its annual update to the Equitable Housing Finance Plan, aiming to address housing disparities for historically underserved consumers. The 2024 Plan outlines 23 specific actions, including expanding pre-purchase counseling for first-time homebuyers and creating a standard definition for 'first-generation homebuyer'. The Plan focuses on reducing housing barriers, providing affordable solutions, and enhancing financial literacy to make the housing system fairer and more equitable.
Fannie Mae is actively working to expand and scale its efforts to address housing disparities for historically underserved consumers.
The Equitable Housing Finance Plan includes 23 specific actions aimed at reducing housing barriers and promoting homeownership among underserved communities.
The Plan focuses on providing affordable housing solutions, down payment assistance, and financial counseling support to help consumers access homeownership opportunities.
Fannie Mae has made progress in achieving its goals through collaborative efforts with lenders, industry partners, and community stakeholders.
The Plan emphasizes expanding pre-purchase counseling for first-time homebuyers and defining 'first-generation homebuyer' to address disparities related to generational wealth.
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Moves toward expanding and scaling various actions in third year of the Plan
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.
About Fannie Mae
Fannie Mae advances equitable and sustainable access to homeownership and quality, affordable rental housing for millions of people across America. We enable the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and drive responsible innovation to make homebuying and renting easier, fairer, and more accessible. To learn more, visit:
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