Given the financial and political hurdles that stand in the way of releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship, it may be only a second- or third-tier issue for the Trump administration.
The former chief housing advisor to the Treasury secretary during the first Trump administration will now oversee Freddie’s regulatory and conservatorship affairs operations.
Treasury and FHFA agreed on some guidelines for how the process of getting the GSEs out of conservatorship will work. But they didn’t set that process in motion.
Even if lawmakers can’t agree on how or whether to release the GSEs from conservatorship, there are incremental steps they can take, according to former FHFA Director Mark Calabria.