Housing chief urges Congress to take action on Fannie, Freddie

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The Hill:

The nation's top federal housing regulator who oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac urged lawmakers on Tuesday to begin laying the groundwork for an overhaul of the housing finance market.

Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), told the House Financial Services Committee that the major impediment to his agency's ability to boost the housing market and wind down Fannie and Freddie is the lack of a legislative direction from Congress and the Obama administration.

 

"We need Congress and the administration to agree on a legislative path for the role of government in the mortgage market going forward," he told the panel.

For the past couple of years, the White House and lawmakers have batted around ideas on how to proceed but, so far, no plan has emerged.

"Even if it's not the whole picture, we need parameters on how to gradually shrink Fannie and Freddie," he said.