Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced they will extend housing access in rural underserved markets, enhance their support for manufactured housing, and continue to address liquidity needs for first-time homebuyers, among a host of activities outlined in plans published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
As required under two separate regulatory frameworks, FHFA published plans that discuss Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSE) initiatives to advance equitable access to affordable and sustainable housing in underserved markets and communities. Their 2025-2027 Duty to Serve (DTS) Underserved Markets Plans seek to improve access to mortgage liquidity across three underserved housing markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing. The GSE’s 2025-2027 Equitable Housing Finance Plans (EHFPs) contain strategies to ensure homeowners and renters in all communities have affordable and sustainable housing opportunities.
“These new plans underscore the commitment of FHFA and the Enterprises to ensure that the housing finance system responsibly supports borrowers and renters across the country,” said FHFA Director Sandra L. Thompson. “It is critical that innovative ideas for addressing liquidity needs in underserved markets be implemented and scaled up in rural communities and other areas facing access and affordability challenges.”
A History of Service
The requirement to create and publish DTS Underserved Markets Plans was established by Congress in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which directed the GSEs to develop ways to improve mortgage access for very low-, low-, and moderate-income families across the three underserved markets. The 2025-2027 DTS plans expand liquidity to serve nearly 690,000 renter households and over 90,000 homeowner households. For the first time, the GSEs’ Underserved Markets Plans include strategies to help communities across the entire rural market, in addition to the highest-need rural populations defined by regulation.
Plans in Place
Freddie Mac will hold six ‘Develop the Developer’ academies in rural regions to help build rural development capacity. Fannie Mae will focus on enabling rural Community Development Financial Institutions to access secondary markets. Both GSEs’ DTS plans also enhance their programs for manufactured housing communities to better support owners that voluntarily limit rent increases for leased pads.
FHFA has required the three-year EHFPs since 2022, codifying them in a regulation that was published earlier this year. In their 2025-2027 EHFPs, both Enterprises commit to continue supporting first-time and first-generation homebuyers, expanding the use of rental payment history and cash flow analysis in their underwriting systems, promoting awareness of various down payment assistance programs, and enabling tenants to strengthen credit through reporting of on-time rent payments to the credit bureaus. Both GSEs will also enhance their free financial education and homeownership education materials by adding home maintenance and natural disaster risk topics and translating materials into new languages.
The GSEs’ final DTS Underserved Markets Plans and EHFPs are being published following FHFA’s solicitation of extensive public input. The actions outlined by the GSEs will remain subject to FHFA review and approval to ensure compliance with conservatorship and regulatory requirements.
Click here to view Fannie Mae’s 2025-2027 Underserved Markets Plan, and click here to view Freddie Mac’s 2025-2027 Underserved Markets Plan.
