Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac pledge funds to boost minority home ownership.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have pledged hundreds of billions of dollars to finance home ownership for minorities over the next decade. The two institutions announced commitments of financing, consumer education and other efforts in response to the recent call by President Bush for private-sector help in expanding home ownership for minorities.NLC President Karen Anderson, mayor of Minnetonka, Minn., said, "We appreciate the continuing partnerships forged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with many cities and towns across the United States. We commend their efforts to step up commitments to building quality communities through minority home ownership."
Franklin Raines, chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae, announced a 10-point plan to increase the corporation's commitment to minority homeownership. The plan calls for Fannie Mae to:
* Invest at least $700 billion through 2009 to provide home financing to 4.6 million minority households
* Create and market a new mortgage product designed specifically to meet the needs of immigrants
* Provide secondary mortgage market financing for first mortgages where Section 8 is a source of repayment
* Create a $100 million Housing Solutions Initiative to provide financing for properties eligible for Low Income Housing Tax Credits but considered exceptionally difficult to finance
* Make first-time home buyer and financial literacy materials, and Home Counselor Online, available at no charge
* Develop at least 100 employer-assisted housing alliances each year with particular emphasis on employers with large numbers of minority employees
* Develop and market to lenders products that will help rescue borrowers from predatory lending
Freddie Mac is undertaking a range of initiatives aimed at helping families overcome a variety of barriers to homeownership through a combination of aggressive outreach programs, borrower education efforts and innovative mortgage products.
Specifically, Freddie Mac is undertaking 25 major initiatives, collectively called "Catch the Dream," that are intended to help millions of minority families acquire affordable homeownership. These initiatives will span the entire "Homeownership Lifecycle." The Homeownership Lifecycle includes:
* Providing information so consumers understand that homeownership is within reach;
* Expanding availability of affordable for-sale housing;,
* Equipping the mortgage finance industry with the tools to meet the financing needs of the next generation of homebuyers;
* Providing more affordable home financing opportunities and helping homeowners build and protect their home equity
For more information on the plans, see www.fanniemae.com and www.freddiemac.com.
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| Publication: | Nation's Cities Weekly |
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| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Jun 24, 2002 |
| Words: | 382 |
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| Goal-oriented: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac every year are required to meet affordable housing goals set by the Department of Housing and Urban... |