The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), led by Director Bill Pulte, requests that public feedback on a proposed FHFA strategic plan for fiscal years 2026 to 2030 be submitted by Nov. 5.
The Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 requires the FHFA, as the regulator of government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, to update its strategic plan at least once every four years.
In a Wednesday press release announcing new forward guidance, the agency described its updated strategy as “consistent with its statutory requirements and President Trump’s executive orders.”
The FHFA did not state specific executive orders driving alignment. However, two orders signed by President Donald Trump in the first 100 hours of his second term appear to apply. One called for the termination of “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) in federal hiring, contracting and spending. The other dismantled dozens of Biden-era initiatives dubbed his “Green New Deal” to address climate change.
The FHFA did not respond to Scotsman Guide’s request for comment.
Pulte has already moved to implement such executive orders at the agency, terminating special purpose credit programs typically used to bridge housing access gaps for marginalized borrowers and announcing in a now-famous interview on Fox News in March that “DEI is dead at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”
The FHFA’s current strategic plan for fiscal years 2022 to 2026 was drafted under Director Sandra Thompson, a nominee of President Joe Biden who was the first Black woman to lead the FHFA. Thompson served two-plus decades at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before joining the FHFA, most recently as director of the Division of Risk Management Supervision.
Thompson’s strategic plan began with “Mission” and “Vision” statements outlining the agency’s commitment to safety, soundness and mission-related activities, and included a “Values” statement saying, “FHFA’s culture is built on a foundation of competence, diversity, equity and inclusion.” The word “diversity” appeared three times, “equity” appeared six times, and “inclusion” appeared three times in Thompson’s strategic plan.
Thompson’s agency also committed itself to addressing emerging climate change-related risks eroding stability in the housing finance ecosystem, creating an urgency to stabilize property insurance markets, harden communities, begin robust data collection and reimagine ways of pricing environmental risk. The word “climate” appears seven times and “natural disaster” twice in Thompson’s strategic plan.
Thompson won Senate confirmation in a party-line, 49-46 vote in May 2022, succeeding Mark Calabria, Trump’s first-term FHFA director and the current chief statistician under the auspices of White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, an architect of the Trump administration’s anti-Biden-era policy agenda.
The strategic plan proposal issued by Pulte’s agency on Wednesday bore no “Values” statement, only “Mission” and “Vision” statements, the latter of which read: “Help restore the American dream of homeownership for ALL Americans.” Reflecting the stark shift in federal agencies’ priorities, the words “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” “climate” and “natural disaster” do not appear at all in Pulte’s proposal.
Pulte’s proposal outlines three priorities for 2026 to 2030: responsible oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “for the American People”; supervision of the Federal Home Loan Bank System; and efficient management of the FHFA’s housing operations. Pulte’s strategy presents a “risk-focused supervision” in contrast to Thompson’s focus on housing access.
Placing an emphasis on fraud detection and deregulation, the proposed strategic plan directly underscores compliance with executive orders geared to “promoting prosperity for Americans through deregulation” and “remediating overburdensome or costly regulations inconsistent with efficient operations.”
As required by the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, the FHFA recently proposed annual housing goals for 2026 to 2028 for the mortgages purchased by Fannie and Freddie. Feedback on the proposal, which responds to concerns of subsidy failures by diluting Fannie and Freddie’s affordable housing mandate, is due by Nov. 3.
For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that proposed rule would combine the current low-income census tracts home purchase goal and the minority census tracts home purchase goal into a single low-income areas home purchase goal for the mortgages they buy, eliminating a distinction that FHFA leadership may construe as “inconsistent with efficient operations.”
To expand housing supply, Pulte proposes creating initiatives to develop new supply, rehabilitating existing housing stock, supporting Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investor markets and ensuring Federal Home Loan Banks meet community lending goals. FHFA will “develop and administer supervisory tests, as appropriate,” to ensure safety and soundness, according to the strategic plan.
