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Fannie and Freddie announce tenant protection policy framework
On August 28, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs) each published a multifamily tenant protection policy framework to require minimum lease standards at multifamily properties financed by new enterprise-backed loans. Introduced by the FHFA in July, the policies will take effect in February 2025 and will include (i) a five-day grace period for rent payments, (ii) a 30-day notice for rent increases, and (iii) a 30-day notice of lease expirations.
According to Freddie Mac’s announcement, the GSEs collaborated with the FHFA to review state landlord-tenant laws and engaged stakeholders to identify best practices. Findings from Freddie Mac’s National Survey of Tenant Protections were also considered. Additionally, the GSEs published FAQs related to the standards and an initial policy grid or policy framework that outlined their policy, applicability, updates to loan documents, implementation requirements for borrowers, and monitoring and enforcement details.
FHFA proposes new GSE multifamily housing goals
On August 16, FHFA announced a proposed rule regarding benchmark levels for the 2023 and 2024 multifamily housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs). According to the proposed rule, the GSEs will switch from using the number of units in multifamily properties financed annually by each institution to a new methodology of using the percentage of units financed. Instead of measuring the multifamily housing goals based on a number of units, the proposed rule would use the percentage of each of the GSE’s annual multifamily loan acquisitions that are affordable to each income category. FHFA acknowledged that the existing methodology does not incentivize the GSEs to continue to acquire mortgages backed by goal-qualifying units after the institutions have purchased enough mortgages to meet the minimum numeric benchmark levels. According to FHFA Director Sandra Thompson, the proposal “would ensure that each [of the GSE’s] focus remains on affordable segments of the multifamily market and reaffirms FHFA’s commitments to its statutory duty to promote affordability nationwide.”