The Covenant Homeownership Program provides a zero-interest secondary loan to help cover down payments and closing costs, widely viewed as the first explicitly race-conscious housing finance program of its kind.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte reportedly mentioned the idea to President Donald Trump last weekend leading Trump to post about the idea on Truth Social. However, sources told CBS News this week that a 50-year mortgage plan hadn't been vetted by senior Trump administration officials and wasn't ready for release. Leaders across mortgage and real estate were almost uniformly against the idea.
A key criticism of offering house hunters a longer-term borrowing option is that it would not save borrowers a significant amount of money in the short term and would drive up buyer's financing costs in the long haul. Numerous housing gurus claim the interest rate on these half-century loans would be significantly higher than the traditional 30-year mortgage. This logic is largely based on the fact that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are more expensive than the already available but lesser-used twist, the 15-year home loan.
Extreme weather events are now more than just an occasional disruption; they are redefining the landscape of housing finance. And, the frequency and intensity in which these events occur, combined with rising insurance and utility costs, fluctuating property values, and shifting housing rates, provide challenges for lenders looking to effectively streamline operations, mitigate risk, and support their borrowers. For many lenders, gaining insight into the potential and actual impact of climate disasters on their loan pipeline has lacked in providing the full picture.
Mr. Sertich knows CalHFA and, even more importantly, knows the state's housing finance ecosystem from nearly every perspective, CalHFA Board Chair Jim Cervantes said in a statement. With CalHFA and its sister agencies moving into a new era under the umbrella of the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, Mr. Sertich's experience and expertise will be invaluable. Per a release from the agency, CalHFA helped 7,000 first-time and first-generation homebuyers in the last fiscal year.
The program, called Section 610, allowed landlords to collect the full value of a federal rent voucher when it was more than the rent. But money came from the federal Section 8 program. In March, when Section 8 funding appeared in jeopardy, the city paused authorizations. In July, New York State's housing department seemed to put the final nail in the coffin, ending authorizations for landlords who receive certain city subsidies.
In his blog, posted on Thursday, Broeksmit warned that a Fannie-Freddie merger would harm competition and increase risks in the U.S. housing finance system, noting that a similar idea was put forward by the National Economic Council in September 2016 and received careful review across the industry before ultimately being rejected. Competition between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been central to their success in providing liquidity and stability to the mortgage market, Broeksmit wrote.
