The House Passes H.R. 1461

On October 26, 2005, the House passed H.R. 1461, the "Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005," by a vote of 331-90. The bill would create a single, independent regulator to oversee the activities of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. It contains several NAR-supported provisions, including an increased regional conforming loan limit for high cost areas, no statutory limitation on retained mortgage portfolios, and a streamlined program approval process. The bill would still require the new regulator to define mortgage origination and the secondary mortgage market. The GSEs would be prohibited from participating in any activity not considered a secondary market activity. The bill did exempt existing automated underwriting, consumer education, and counseling programs from this definition. It also creates a new extremely-low- and low-income housing program, mostly to build rental housing, that is funded by five percent of the GSEs after-tax profits.

Read H.R. 1461 (419K PDF File)

The Senate Banking Committee reported its GSE reform bill, S. 190, the "Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005" on July 28, 2005 by a straight party-line vote. This bill takes a more draconian approach to GSE reform with severe limitations on GSE portfolios. It does not contain regional conforming loan limit language or affordable housing funds.

Contacts: Jeff Lischer 202-383-1117

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