Industry trade groups are pushing for optimized investment tools, community bankers are warning against systemic risk and housing advocates believe the proposal will allow the GSEs to abandon the nation’s neediest populations.

Critics say that, by eliminating “prescribed activities,” FHFA has taken the teeth out of the DTS rule, making it difficult to enforce.

FHFA wants to claim exemptions “for certain system of records to ensure the agency can effectively carry out its statutory responsibilities while safeguarding sensitive information.”

Proposed changes would revamp the treatment of “Indian areas” and rural agricultural workers, along with altering the method of calculating area median income.

The proposal would redefine "high-needs rural population" and limit the use of area median income when defining low-income categories.

The trade group called for an all-of-government effort to solve the housing affordability crisis. That includes the GSEs.

Since 2016, when the duty-to-serve rule compelled the GSEs to make it easier to buy homes in rural census tracts, home prices have remained mostly stable and rents have declined.

A coalition of the leading affordable housing organizations in America gave Fannie Mae a C minus for its duty-to-serve plan. Freddie Mac got a B minus.

Fannie and Freddie have detailed how they plan to meet their obligations to provide liquidity and credit access to underserved communities.

Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to reach their multifamily volume caps in 2022, 2023 and probably 2024, FHFA raised the caps from $140 billion to $146 billion for 2025.