NCSHA Washington Report | March 20, 2026
The wide-ranging executive orders on housing the White House issued last week represent the strongest statement ever of federal intent to lower the cost of buying and building homes through relaxed federal regulation of private industry.
But while the directives reflect the results of thoughtful, inclusive policymaking and include many worthwhile concepts, they mostly merely initiate a set of bureaucratic steps agencies across the federal government must now take to realize President Trump’s stated goal to “restore the American Dream of homeownership for all Americans.”
About which several questions arise.
Does the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have the personnel and expertise to execute its daunting to-do list? The executive orders direct the bureau, on its own and with federal bank regulators, to revise regulations for smaller banks; ease rules on residential construction financing; overhaul mortgage servicing, appraisal, and data collection procedures; and pull back penalties for good-faith bank mistakes in these and other areas.
But the Trump Administration has been trying to gut the bureau practically since day one, cutting its budget almost in half, attempting to fire most of its staff, and at one point telling them, “Please do not perform any work tasks.” A survey published yesterday reported that eight percent of CFPB employees are satisfied with their jobs.
Another question is whether the executive orders will be enough to drive more affordable mortgage loans from more lenders. The White House directives name check “community banks” a half dozen times, but the Community Home Lenders Association said, “Only time will tell whether and to what extent these homeownership Executive Orders will translate into transformative action by the federal agencies.”
(Complementary proposals yesterday by the bank regulators intended in part to increase larger banks’ originations of home mortgages have been greeted with similar caution. “It seems unlikely that depositories are suddenly going to develop an appetite for mortgage lending and servicing,” one well-connected analyst said in advance of them.)
We also wonder how successfully federal agencies will be able to fulfill the White House order to drive home building in Opportunity Zones by linking “grants, financing tools, or other incentives with new or increased investment in Qualified Opportunity Funds engaged in the development and sale of single-family homes.” The directive seems to reflect the reality that, while the OZ tax incentives have attracted investment in apartment development, mostly in high-end projects, they are not well designed to stimulate single-family, for-sale construction.
Yet the first Trump Administration found it difficult to steer federal grants, which typically have statutory features governing how and where funds are spent, to OZs. And distressed rural areas, where the forthcoming OZ designations will focus, face multiple barriers to adding new homes that subsidies may not be able to overcome.
Perhaps the biggest question the admirably intended executive orders raise, though, is whether they reflect a pivot by President Trump from trying to lower housing costs by working with Congress to pass major legislation, which is currently stalled, or whether the president shares our and others’ view that executive and legislative action are both needed to make housing more affordable.
Stockton Williams | Executive Director
In This Issue
- Hundreds of National, State, Local Organizations Ask Congress for HOME Funding Increase
- FHFA Publishes Strategic, Annual Performance Plans; Will Propose Duty to Serve Reform Later This Year
- Fannie and Freddie Revise Insurance Requirements
- RHS Issues Final Rule on Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program
- Bank Regulators Release Proposed Rules to Increase Mortgage Lending
- NCSHA in the News
- Looking Ahead
Hundreds of National, State, Local Organizations Ask Congress for HOME Funding Increase
On Tuesday, the HOME Coalition, which is chaired by NCSHA and represents national, state, and local entities that support increasing resources for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), submitted a letter, signed by more than 500 housing organizations, to members of Congress urging them to allocate at least $1.5 billion for HOME in fiscal year 2027. The letter emphasizes HOME is one of the most effective and flexible tools states and localities have to meet their affordable housing needs, including rental home production and preservation, single-family home construction, homeowner rehabilitation, and tenant-based rental assistance, and argues current housing needs make it more important than ever for Congress to provide significant resources for this essential program.
FHFA Publishes Strategic, Annual Performance Plans; Will Propose Duty to Serve Reform Later This Year
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Monday published its final Strategic Plan for fiscal years (FYs) 2026 – 30 and its Annual Performance Plan for FYs 2026 and 2027. The Strategic Plan outlines the agency’s priorities as the regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) system and the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while the Annual Performance Plan describes the various metrics, goals, and deadlines FHFA will use to determine whether it has fulfilled those priorities. FHFA has set three main strategic goals for FYs 2026 – 30: reliably overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, supervising the FHLBs, and efficiently managing its own agency.
Notably, the Strategic Plan includes an objective to ensure the GSEs support efforts to expand housing supply and specifically cites GSE support for the Housing Credit investment market as a means of meeting the objective. According to the Performance Plan, FHFA will require the GSEs to support “hard-to-fund” Housing Credit developments — those having difficulty attracting investors — by targeting such projects with Housing Credit investments made in excess of $1 billion for each GSE each year. FHFA currently permits Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to invest up to $2 billion each annually in Housing Credit projects.
FHFA also pledges in both reports that it will ensure the GSEs and FHLBs continue to fulfill their statutory obligations to support affordable housing, such as the GSEs’ affordable housing goals and Duty to Serve requirements and the FHLBs’ Affordable Housing Programs. In the Annual Performance Plan, FHFA indicates it intends to issue a proposed rule updating its Duty to Serve regulations in the fourth quarter of this year and publish a final rule by the end of 2027.
Fannie and Freddie Revise Insurance Requirements
In an effort to lower the cost of homeownership, on Thursday, Fannie Mae, in Lender Letter 2026-03, and Freddie Mac, in Bulletin 2026-C, issued changes to their respective guidelines regarding insurance policies for condominiums and one- to four-unit single-family properties.
Included in the changes related to condominium buildings, master insurance policies can now use Actual Cash Value (ACV) roof coverage instead of replacement value coverage. The changes also eliminate Fannie and Freddie’s maximum investor-owner concentration limits of 50 percent for established condominium projects. Owners of one- to four-unit family homes also will be able to obtain ACV coverage for their roofs, thereby saving the difference they would have paid for a replacement cost policy.
RHS Issues Final Rule on Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) issued a final rule to grant delegated lenders participating in the Single-Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program the authority to make loans and obtain loan note guarantees after closing using agency automated loan underwriting and closing systems. With delegated authority, conditional commitments will no longer be required. This rule becomes effective on June 17 and will be implemented on September 28, 2028.
Bank Regulators Release Proposed Rules to Increase Mortgage Lending
The three major federal bank regulators — the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Reserve — yesterday released three proposed rules that would reduce and streamline capital requirements for banks of all sizes. The regulators argue these changes are necessary to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, increase bank participation in mortgage lending and lending businesses, and increase competition.
One of the proposed rules would adjust the risk-weighting applied to single-family mortgages (and other assets) to determine how much capital a bank needs to hold for each loan. Current regulations assign prudently underwritten mortgage loans a risk weight of 50 percent and all other primary-mortgage loans a weighting of 100 percent. The proposed rule would establish a tiered system in which the risk weighting for loans would increase for mortgages with higher loan-to-value ratios (LTV). The risk weighting for mortgage loans would range from 25 percent for loans with an LTV of 50 percent or lower, to 75 percent for loans with an LTV at or above 100 percent. All mortgages insured by federal mortgage insurance programs, such as the Federal Housing Administration’s, will retain their 20 percent risk weighting, as will mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The proposal’s goal is to incentivize banks to originate more balance-sheet loans.
The regulators also are proposing to remove the requirement that banks deduct their mortgage servicing right (MSR) assets from their regulatory capital. Current guidelines only allow MSRs to account for up to 25 percent of a bank’s regulatory capital. The deadline to comment on the proposed rules is June 18. To help inform NCSHA’s comments, please send any input to Greg Zagorski by June 5.
NCSHA in the News
Housing Wire, 3.16.26, Housing muni market swells amid affordability policy debate
Columbus Business First, 3.16.26, Columbus Executive Connections: OCCH President and CEO Catherine Cawthon on housing affordability in Central Ohio
The Christian Science Monitor, 3.12.26, America needs a housing fix. Congress has ideas – but has hit a snag
Legislative and Regulatory Activities
- March 26 | House Financial Services Committee’s Housing and Insurance Subcommittee | Hearing: Mitigation and Multiple Loss Properties: Factors Influencing the High Cost of Flooding
- April 10 | Comments Due to NCSHA | HUD Proposed Rule: Verification of Eligible Status for HUD-Subsidized Housing Assistance
- April 17 | Comments Due to NCSHA | HUD Interim Final Rule: Revocation of the 30-Day Notification Requirement Prior to Termination of Lease for Nonpayment of Rent
- April 17 | Comments Due to NCSHA | HUD Proposed Rule: Allowing PHAs and Owners to Set Work Requirements and Term Limits
- April 21 | Comments Due | HUD Proposed Rule: Verification of Eligible Status for HUD-Subsidized Housing Assistance
- April 27 | Comments Due | HUD Interim Final Rule: Revocation of the 30-Day Notification Requirement Prior to Termination of Lease for Nonpayment of Rent
- May 1 | Comments Due | HUD Proposed Rule: Allowing PHAs and Owners to Set Work Requirements and Term Limits
- June 5 | Comments Due to NCSHA | Bank Regulators’ Proposed Rules: Bank Capital Requirements
- June 18 | Comments Due | Bank Regulators’ Proposed Rules: Bank Capital Requirements
State and Industry Events
- March 23 – 26 | NAHMA Top Issues in Affordable Housing Conference | Washington, DC
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - April 14 – 16 | NIFA Innovation Expo 2026 | Lincoln, NE
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - April 15 – 16 | South Carolina’s Statewide Affordable Housing Summit | Columbia, SC
- April 21 – 23 | Affordable Housing Investors Council Spring Meeting | Scottsdale, AZ
Jim Tassos will speak at this event. - April 29 – May 1 | 2026 Mississippi Annual Housing Conference | Biloxi, MS
- May 3 – 6 | 2026 Women’s Affordable Housing Network Summit | San Diego, CA
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event. - May 4 – 6 | Mountain Plains Housing Summit 2026 | Boise, ID
- May 6 – 7 | 2026 PHFA Housing Forum | Harrisburg, PA
Garth Rieman will speak at this event. - May 18 – 20 | Montana Housing Partnership Conference | Anaconda, MT
Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event.
