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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 246 / Tuesday, December 28, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
Ted Wartell, Associate Director, Housing &
Community Investment, Division of Housing Mission and Goals, 202 649
3157, Ted.Wartell@fhfa.gov; Padmasini Raman, Supervisory Policy Analyst, Housing & Community Investment, Division of Housing Mission and Goals, 202 6493633, Padmasini.Raman@
fhfa.gov; Kevin Sheehan, Associate General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, 202 6493086, Kevin.Sheehan@fhfa.gov; or Marshall Adam Pecsek, Assistant General Counsel, 202 6493380, Marshall.Pecsek@fhfa.gov. These are not toll-free numbers. The mailing address is: Federal Housing Finance Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW, Washington, DC
20219. For TTY/TRS users with hearing and speech disabilities, dial 711 and ask to be connected to any of the contact numbers above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

I. Background
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A. Statutory and Regulatory Background for the Existing Housing Goals The Safety and Soundness Act requires FHFA to establish annual housing goals for several categories of both single-family and multifamily mortgages purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.1 The annual housing goals are one measure of the extent to which the Enterprises are meeting their public purposes, which include an affirmative obligation to facilitate the financing of affordable housing for lowand moderate-income families in a manner consistent with their overall public purposes, while maintaining a strong financial condition and a reasonable economic return. 2 FHFA
established housing goals levels for 2021 in a final rule published on December 21, 2020.3 FHFA proposed housing goals for 20222024 in a proposed rule published on August 25, 2021.4
Single-family goals. The single-family goals as defined under the Safety and Soundness Act include separate categories for home purchase mortgages for low-income families, very lowincome families, and families that reside in low-income areas. Performance on the single-family home purchase goals is measured as the percentage of the total home purchase mortgages purchased by an Enterprise each year that qualify for each goal or subgoal. There is also a separate goal for refinancing mortgages 1 See
12 U.S.C. 4561a.
12 U.S.C. 45017.
3 See 85 FR 82881 Dec. 21, 2020.
4 See 86 FR 47398 Aug. 25, 2021.
2 See
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for low-income families, and performance on the refinancing goal is determined in a similar way.
Under the Safety and Soundness Act, the single-family housing goals are limited to mortgages on owner-occupied housing with one to four units total. The single-family goals cover conventional, conforming mortgages, defined as mortgages that are not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration FHA or another government agency and with principal balances that do not exceed the loan limits for Enterprise mortgages.
The performance of the Enterprises on the single-family housing goals is evaluated using a two-part approach, which compares the goal-qualifying share of the Enterprises mortgage purchases to two separate measures: A
benchmark level established by FHFA
regulation; and a market level that FHFA computes retrospectively based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act HMDA data.
Multifamily goals. The multifamily goals as defined under the Safety and Soundness Act include separate categories for mortgages on multifamily properties properties with five or more units with rental units affordable to low-income families and for mortgages on multifamily properties with rental units affordable to very low-income families. FHFA has also established by regulation a small multifamily lowincome subgoal for multifamily properties with 550 units. The multifamily goals evaluate the performance of the Enterprises based on numeric targets, not percentages, for the number of affordable units in properties backed by mortgages purchased by an Enterprise. The regulation establishes benchmark levels for the multifamily goals and subgoals, but it does not include a retrospective market level measure for the multifamily goals and subgoals, due in part to a lack of comprehensive data about the multifamily market. Thus, in contrast to the single-family goals, FHFA currently measures Enterprise multifamily goals performance against the benchmark levels only.
B. Adjusting the Housing Goals If, after publication of this final rule, FHFA determines that any of the singlefamily or multifamily housing goals should be adjusted due to market conditions that are beyond current expectations, to ensure the safety and soundness of the Enterprises, or for any other reason, FHFA will take any steps that are necessary and appropriate to adjust that goal such as reducing the benchmark level through the processes
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in the existing regulation. FHFA may take other actions consistent with the Safety and Soundness Act and the Enterprise housing goals regulation based on new information or developments that occur after publication of the final rule.
For example, under the Safety and Soundness Act and the Enterprise housing goals regulation, FHFA may reduce the benchmark levels in response to an Enterprise petition for reduction of any of the single-family or multifamily housing goal benchmark levels in a particular year based on a determination by FHFA that: 1 Market and economic conditions or the financial condition of the Enterprise require a reduction; or 2 efforts to meet the goal or subgoal would result in the constraint of liquidity, over-investment in certain market segments, or other consequences contrary to the intent of the Safety and Soundness Act or the purposes of the Enterprises charter acts.5
The Safety and Soundness Act and the Enterprise housing goals regulation also take into account the possibility that achievement of a particular housing goal may or may not have been feasible for an Enterprise to achieve. If FHFA
determines that a housing goal was not feasible for an Enterprise to achieve, then the statute and regulation provide for no further enforcement of that housing goal for that year.6
If FHFA determines that an Enterprise failed to meet a housing goal and that achievement of the housing goal was feasible, then the statute and regulation provide FHFA with discretionary authority to require the Enterprise to submit a housing plan describing the specific actions the Enterprise will take to improve its housing goals performance.7
C. Housing Goals Under Conservatorship On September 6, 2008, FHFA placed each Enterprise into conservatorship.
Although the Enterprises remain in conservatorship at this time, they continue to have the mission of supporting a stable and liquid national market for residential mortgage financing. FHFA has continued to establish annual housing goals for the Enterprises and to assess their performance under the housing goals each year during conservatorship.
5 See
12 CFR 1282.14d; 12 U.S.C. 4564b.
12 CFR 1282.21a; 12 U.S.C. 4566b.
7 See 12 CFR 1282.21; 12 U.S.C. 4566c.
6 See
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