NCSHA Washington Report | March 27, 2026

The “AI legislative framework” the White House released last Friday is an outline of the president’s priorities in a new law he wants Congress to craft. It also represents the latest step in the administration’s efforts to limit states’ ability to set the rules for AI, which has created real tensions with some Republican governors and state legislators.

Meanwhile, AI policies are emerging, mostly piecemeal, from federal agencies involved in housing finance. As of March 3, sellers and servicers of mortgages working with Freddie Mac are required to demonstrate that procedures for “mapping, measuring, and managing AI risk are in place.” Mortgage companies must document their uses of AI, the associated risks and protections against them, and how they and their vendors are monitoring uses and impacts going forward.

In the view of one analyst, “The new guidelines reinforce the point to the lending industry that ultimate responsibility for risk oversight — and potential penalties if things go awry — lay at the feet of the originators, even when they often put the onus on their tech partners.” Freddie’s policy is more far-reaching than any announced by its primary competitor, Fannie Mae, or the general directives set by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In terms of government-backed mortgages, the Federal Housing Administration has not issued broad AI guidance either, but Ginnie Mae, which guarantees mortgage-backed securities supporting FHA and other federally-guaranteed loans, “expanded its forays into artificial intelligence in 2025” as part of its complex operational transition from pool-level to loan-level financial platform.

Ginnie Mae is also “collaborating across business units to strategize AI-use cases” in areas including “document generation, manual process automation, predictive analytics, risk modeling, and data anomaly detection,” according to its annual report.

The Fed, FDIC, and OCC each have their own internal research efforts and working groups assessing AI, and senior officials from the agencies have occasionally spoken publicly about aspects of the technology.

Federal Reserve Bank Vice Chair Michelle Bowman said (previously, as a Board Governor), “[A]s we engage in ongoing monitoring — and expand our understanding of AI technology and how it fits within the bank regulatory framework — I think it is important to preserve the ability of banks to innovate and allow the banking system to realize the benefits of this new technology.”

FDIC Chairman Travis Hill said AI can help regulators “focus on what really matters” with greater speed and precision. “At the FDIC,” Hill said, “we want banks to innovate in this space, and we will ensure our supervisory approach encourages it. We want resources laser-focused on risks and outcomes, not rote, mindless processes.”

The most unified federal multi-agency action related to AI and housing finance might be the quality control standards for automated valuation models issued by the bank regulatory agencies, FHFA, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which attempt to establish a common foundation for data quality, conflict-of-interest avoidance, and nondiscrimination.

The rule barely mentions AI by name but says, “Since AVM modeling will continue to evolve, valuation products that do not currently meet the definition of an AVM may meet that definition in the future.” So be ready.

Stockton Williams | Executive Director

Washington Report will return April 10.

In This Issue

• NCSHA Welcomes New Members
• House and Senate at a Stalemate on 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
• HUD Announces $56 Million Available for Housing Counseling and Training
• House Members Send Letter to House Appropriators in Support of $1.5 Billion for HOME in FY27
• House Subcommittee Explores Risks to National Flood Insurance Program
• CPE Report Proposes Ways to Accelerate Housing Investment
• NHT Publishes Report on Affordable Housing Stabilization Funds
• NCSHA in the News
• Looking Ahead

NCSHA Welcomes New Members
NCSHA recently welcomed these organizations as Affiliate members: Blue Canyon Writing Company, MCCi, Remotely Possible, Tareen Development Partners, and Vurbane LLC. If you have a partner who is interested in becoming a member, please contact membership@ncsha.org.

House and Senate at a Stalemate on 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act
After passing the Senate by a whopping 89 – 10 vote, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) has stalled, at least temporarily. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are pressing the House to take up the Senate-passed bill without further modifications but face opposition from House Financial Services Committee leadership, Chair French Hill (R-AR) and Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA), both of whom have their own objections to the bill and want to further negotiate final legislation.

House Republicans have raised concerns about the bill’s prohibition on institutional investor purchases of single-family homes. They are also seeking inclusion of community banking provisions that were part of the House bill but which the Senate dropped and other changes. Waters this week released a “Dear Colleague” letter listing provisions from the House-passed version of the legislation that the Senate did not include in its bill and House Democrats want to see added back in, as well as a few provisions they would like to see removed.

Should the House and Senate consider further changes to the legislation, NCSHA will press them to include language directing the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to review and revise Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements as applied to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program and to further streamline HOME environmental reviews, both of which were in the House-passed bill but dropped from the Senate bill. NCSHA also wants the final bill to include a clear exemption for Housing Credit-financed single-family rental housing from the requirement that institutional investor owners of “build-to-rent” properties must sell those properties to individual homeowners within seven years after being placed in service.

The HOME Coalition, which NCSHA chairs, sent this letter to Financial Services and Banking committee leadership on the HOME BABA and environmental review provisions we support. NCSHA’s concern about the sale requirement for Housing Credit-financed single-family homes is described in this letter we sent to Senate Banking Committee leadership in advance of the Senate vote on the bill.

HUD Announces $56 Million Available for Housing Counseling and Training
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Housing Counseling announced the availability of $56.1 million through a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) published yesterday. HUD plans to award comprehensive housing counseling and housing counseling training grants to approximately 175 housing counseling agencies, intermediary organizations, state HFAs, and training partners.

The criteria for awards under this NOFO reinforce administration priorities of helping Americans build lasting financial independence and pathways to stable, secure, unassisted housing. In addition, this grant-funding opportunity supports post-purchase counseling for individuals with federally-backed mortgages. Submission requirements and additional information are available at Grants.gov. Applications are due by May 26.

House Members Send Letter to House Appropriators in Support of $1.5 Billion for HOME in FY27
This week, 121 members of the House of Representatives, led by Representative Joyce Beatty (D-OH), sent House Appropriations’ Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Chair Steve Womack (R-AR) and Ranking Member Jim Clyburn (D-SC) a letter asking for at least $1.5 billion for the HOME program in fiscal year 2027. NCSHA and our partners in the HOME Coalition worked closely with Beatty to encourage House members to sign on. This letter is an annual effort to support HOME appropriations, but for many years only Democrats have signed on. This year, Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) joined the Democrats signing the letter.

House Subcommittee Explores Risks to National Flood Insurance Program
The House Housing and Insurance Subcommittee yesterday held a hearing to consider the financial health of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and what steps can be taken to lower the risk of flood damage across the country. Subcommittee Chair Mike Flood (R-NE) opened the hearing by noting that, since the 2005 hurricane season, the NFIP has consistently realized imbalances between the premiums it collects and the claims it pays out, requiring it to borrow more than $22 billion total from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. To help restore NFIP’s fiscal health, Flood argued, Congress must address two main issues: how to manage homes that have realized multiple losses (and thus received multiple claims payouts) and how to facilitate mitigation.

Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), who acted as ranking member for the hearing, agreed with Flood about the need to address multiple-loss properties and mitigation but contended the Trump Administration has hampered these efforts by so far not awarding funds through existing NFIP mitigation programs. Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) echoed Pressley’s criticism of the administration, suggesting efforts to improve NFIP may be pointless for as long as Trump is president.

The subcommittee and witnesses discussed several issues related to NFIP and flooding in general, including multiple-loss properties, mitigation strategies, risk pricing, the role of private insurance, the need for updated flood mapping, and the use of reinsurance and community-based parametric flood insurance. Witnesses and subcommittee members from both parties appeared to agree NFIP needs to change how it accounts for multiple-risk properties, current flood maps should be revised, and more needs to be done to encourage mitigation.

CPE Report Proposes Ways to Accelerate Housing Investment
This week, the Center for Public Enterprise released a new report, Raising the Housing Investment Level, highlighting the critical role federal financing policy must play in addressing the nation’s housing shortage. While recent efforts have focused on reducing regulatory barriers to development, the report finds multifamily production has remained largely flat for decades at roughly 350,000 units annually, well below the level needed to close a shortage of millions of homes.

The report emphasizes past surges in apartment construction were driven by coordinated federal action and argues a similar approach is needed today. It outlines several policy options, including strengthening Federal Housing Administration lending, expanding state housing finance agency tools, enhancing government-sponsored enterprise participation in construction financing, and updating tax incentives, that together could support a sustained increase in multifamily production.

NHT Publishes Report on Affordable Housing Stabilization Funds
The National Housing Trust’s recently released report, Affordable Housing Stabilization Funds, explores how stabilization funds are emerging as a critical tool to preserve affordable housing by providing flexible financial support to right-size debt, address deferred maintenance, or provide short-term operating support. The report profiles four states and local jurisdictions that are effectively stabilizing thousands of homes and ensuring the long-term viability of affordable housing portfolios. NHT outlines four key best practices that can serve as valuable models for other regions facing similar challenges.

NCSHA in the News
The Associated Press, 3.27.26, A Build America, Buy America law is causing construction delays amid the US housing crisis
Caledonian Record, 3.24.26, Ayotte suggests leasing surplus state land for housing
Spartan News Room, 3.20.26, How federal changes to housing programs could help Michigan

Looking Ahead

Legislative and Regulatory Activities

• 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

• April 9, 2:00 – 3:30 pm ET | Slater Symposium: Unlearning for Housing Finance Innovation | Virtual
  Sponsored by NCSHA and the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies
• 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 7 – 8 | Novogradac 2026 Affordable Housing Conference | San Diego, CA
  Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event.
• May 18 – 20 | Montana Housing Partnership Conference | Anaconda, MT
  Jennifer Schwartz will speak at this event.