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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 60 July 2025 J O U R N A L SECRETARY REAFFIRMS HUD COMMITMENTS DURING NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH S ecretary Scott Turner of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pro- claimed June to be National Homeown- ership Month, highlighting HUD's role in bringing back the American Dream of homeownership and honoring the ability of homeownership to strengthen communities. "National Homeownership Month is a time to celebrate how HUD helps support and expand opportunities for American homeownership nationwide," said Secretary Turner. "We have achieved so much under President Trump's leader- ship in the past few months alone: cutting regulations, pursuing innovative housing solutions, and helping American families, including many first-time homebuyers, to make the American Dream a reality. These accomplishments are only the beginning as we advance the Golden Age of homeownership for rural, tribal, and urban communities." HUD is renewing its commitment to providing safe, high-quality, and reason- ably priced homeownership alternatives to urban, rural, and Tribal communities throughout National Homeownership Month. Recent achievements consist of: • Removing onerous rules like the Af- firmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, HUD is simplifying the process for building and manufactur- ing homes. • One of the cheapest and non-subsi- dized housing options, Opportunity Zones and Manufactured Housing Programs, is supported by HUD. These programs account for 10% of new single-family home starts and are the homes of 22 million Americans. • Through its Section 184 program, which has insured more than 58,500 mortgages, representing $10.5 billion in investments to Tribes, Tribal hous- ing authority, and Tribal people, HUD is empowering Native American homeownership. It's among the most impactful, least expensive, and least dangerous tools out there. • Through the Federal Housing Ad- ministration (FHA), one of the biggest mortgage insurers in the world, HUD provides assistance to more than 7 million households. FHA has insured 236,000 mortgages since January 20, 2025, including 140,000 for first-time homeowners. Further, first-time homeowners, who account for nearly 40% of Ginnie Mae's whole port- folio, have benefited from roughly three-quarters of the agency's 2025 issuances. • Families in the Presidentially De- clared Major catastrophe Area have more flexibility because of HUD's prolonged FHA moratoriums in states like Florida and California, which aid in catastrophe recovery. SENATORS VOICE CONCERN ON REPRIVATIZING FANNIE/FREDDIE U .S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer, have led 14 Democratic Senators in a letter to Feder- al Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Di- rector William J. Pulte, raising concerns about the Trump administration's recent discussions about reprivatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the letter, the coalition of senators voiced many concerns regarding having Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going public, specifically that the move could dramatically raise housing costs for millions of Americans while delivering a windfall to wealthy investors. "Given the seismic change this deci- sion represents and the concerns it raises about the stability of our nation's housing and financial markets, we write to ask that [FHFA] pause efforts to reprivatize or otherwise alter the Enterprises, including relisting their common and preferred stock." wrote the senators. "Economists have warned that reprivatizing the En- terprises could have disastrous effects on the mortgage market, driving up costs for homebuyers even further. For example, some experts have estimated that mort- gage rates could increase by up to 1% in the first year of privatization alone." Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac help provide stability and affordability to America's home mortgage market, and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that Fannie and Freddie support approximately 70% of the U.S. mortgage market. In 2008, the FHFA exercised its statutory authority to place Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship at the height of the subprime mortgage crisis, an economic event that triggered the subsequent Great Recession. This move, originally intended as a tem- porary measure, established the two conservatorships in response to a dete- rioration in the nation's housing market that damaged the financial condition of each, and left both of them unable to fulfill their missions without govern- ment intervention. President Trump recently took to so- cial media to make his intentions known that his administration was considering bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public, stating: "Our great Mortgage Agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, provide a vital service to our Nation by helping hardworking Americans reach the American Dream—Home Owner- ship. I am working on TAKING THESE AMAZING COMPANIES PUBLIC, but I want to be clear, the U.S. Government will keep its implicit GUARANTEES, and I will stay strong in my position on oversee- ing them as President. These Agencies are