Two Different Twists on GSE Housing Finance Reform
October 14, 2016
In the latest round of housing reform proposals, the Milken Institute recommends the best way forward is to just amend the charters of the GSEs, Federal Housing Finance Agency and Ginnie Mae. This is a different twist on the Urban Institute’s proposal earlier this year, which suggests completely merging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a government corporation that pushes its credit risk into the private market. Authors Michael Bright, director in the Milken Institute’s Center for Financial Markets, and Ed DeMarco, senior fellow at the institute and former FHFA acting director, said those amendment changes include turning the GSEs into mutuals owned and operated by their seller-servicers and making Ginnie Mae a stand-alone government corporation.