SCHUMER APPLAUDS FHFA DIRECTOR MEL WATT FOR ORDERING THE CAPITALIZATION OF THE NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST FUND

Housing Trust Funding To Help Build Much-Needed Affordable Rental Housing In New York City; Will Help Rebuild & Revitalize Low-Income Communities Through Construction, Rehab & Preservation of Rental Housing

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today applauded the decision by FHFA Director Mel Watt to order Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin capitalizing the National Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund.  This critical investment will help rebuild and revitalize low-income communities by providing funds for the construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of rental housing to extremely low-income families.

“New Yorkers know painfully well that it is becoming extremely difficult to afford the rising cost of rent. The decision by the FHFA to fund the National Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund will bring millions of dollars to New York for rental housing and is a step in the right direction to help ensure that hardworking New York families have safe and affordable places to live,” said Senator Schumer.   

The NHTF was established in July 2008 as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). This law required that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay 4.2 basis points of their annual volume of business to the two funds. The requirement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contribute to the two funds was suspended when the companies were taken into conservatorship in September 2008 during the financial crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have since fully repaid the taxpayers.

In addition to being one of the authors on the legislation to create the National Housing Trust Fund, Senator Schumer along with 32 of his Senator Colleagues wrote to FHFA Director Mel Watt urging him to fund the National Housing Trust Fund and The Capital Magnet Fund.

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