Rural, manufactured housing prioritized in new FHFA plan

Government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will heighten their focus on rural community development, including expanding construction and secondary market access, in the latest Duty to Serve plans addressing housing equity. 

In updated plans published this week by their regulator, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac detailed upcoming actions they would take to serve the full rural housing market, in addition to designated communities deemed at highest need by the U.S. government. 

"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," said Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson in a press release. 

As part of the strategy, Freddie Mac will host six Develop the Developer academies in rural areas to help community stakeholders increase supply. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae expects to devise plans to open the door for rural-based community development financial institutions, or CDFIs, gain access to more of the secondary market. 

"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," Thompson said.

As required under federal regulations established in 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac regularly publish goals in what is referred to as Duty to Serve Underserved Markets Plans, which spells out ways to increase liquidity and housing access for low- and moderate-income residents in communities across the country. 

In addition to rural housing development, the GSEs 2025-2027 plans include expanded liquidity for manufactured homes and preservation of existing affordable units. Both enterprises issued updates to existing programs in the announcement this week for residents in manufactured home communities, placing limits on rent increases.

The newest updates to Duty to Serve are set to open up funding opportunities that will benefit nearly 690,000 renter households and over 90,000 homeowners, FHFA said. 

The Duty to Serve announcement follows the publication of similarly mandated three-year Equitable Housing Plans by FHFA earlier this year. In those updates, the enterprises emphasized their support for initiatives enabling first-generation homeownership. Among programs introduced by the GSEs aimed at first-time buyers are expanded use of rental-payment history and cash-flow analysis in underwriting, as well as promotion of down payment assistance. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will also increase financial and homeownership education with translations of material into new languages and the addition of topics addressing home maintenance and natural disaster risk.

The developments come in a year when U.S. housing agencies upped their efforts to support housing in rural and other underserved markets. Among segments receiving greater attention is the manufactured home industry. Earlier this year, FHFA introduced a new manufactured housing price index to be issued quarterly. At the same time, leaders at the U.S. Housing and Urban Development also rolled out new programs at various times in 2024 intended to boost growth of manufactured homes.