Affordable housing advocates say a high concentration of ownership by private equity firms makes residents of manufactured home communities vulnerable to unsustainable increases in rent or maintenance fees.

Freddie’s return to LIHTC investment in 2018 has resulted in projects in underserved communities in 22 states plus Puerto Rico and Guam.

Treasury claims the GSEs’ unfair advantage is because of their capital treatment. Urban Institute researchers say it’s because of the government backstop of their credit risk.

The new cap structure will allow each firm to invest up to $100 billion in multifamily projects over the next five quarters. At least 37.5% of that investment must be for affordable housing.

Homeowners and renters both say housing costs are rising. How they deal with those costs is much more complicated.

The GSE is trying to gather all the stakeholders of the affordable housing “ecosystem,” including lenders, counselors, local housing agencies, and real estate professionals, under a single umbrella.

Fannie Mae stepped up its efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing, announcing earlier this week that it was increasing the loan limit for multifamily small mortgage loans from $3 million to $6 million.

Freddie Mac announced late last month that it had closed a deal with RBC Capital Markets to create a $180 million low-income housing tax credit fund. The fund, Freddie’s fourth LIHTC deal since re-entering the market last year after a decade’s absence, has already made several investments.

Merchant Capital, an affordable housing lender based in Carmel, IN, announced in late December that it used Freddie Mac’s first official non-LIHTC forward commitment to secure financing for a $19.7 million workforce housing development in Rochester, MN.