FHFA Scraps Biden-Era Fair Housing Oversight

The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants is formally dialing back its role in policing fair housing, ditching a Biden-era framework that required lenders and regulators to show, on paper, how they were expanding access to credit.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency finalized the repeal last week, undoing a 2024 rule that codified reporting and accountability standards tied to fair lending and equitable housing finance, according to Bisnow. The change affects Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other government-sponsored enterprises that sit at the core of the U.S. housing finance system.

The repeal will take effect March 9.

The FHFA, led by Bill Pulte, said the rules conflicted with recent executive orders barring federal agencies from running programs focused on specific demographic groups. The agency also argued the framework duplicated existing fair housing requirements and added unnecessary layers of compliance.

“There has been a change in federal policy with respect to activities that promote equity,” the FHFA wrote when it proposed the rollback last summer, a nod to the Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

Tenant advocates and civil rights groups blasted the move, warning it weakens oversight at a moment when affordability and access to homeownership are already under strain. The National Fair Housing Alliance said FHFA was abandoning its statutory duty to expand housing opportunities, particularly for low- and middle-income households.

Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada joined a chorus of objections during the public comment period, alongside the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

Industry groups took the opposite view. Trade organizations representing mortgage insurers and large financial institutions backed the repeal, arguing that fair housing enforcement already exists elsewhere in federal law and that the 2024 rule muddied the waters.

The Conservative Political Action Coalition’s Center for Regulatory Freedom praised the FHFA for aligning itself with the administration’s push to remove DEI-based mandates from federal policy.

The soon-to-be-defunct regulation was adopted in May 2024 and expanded earlier fair lending guidance rooted in the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the 1992 law that governs Fannie and Freddie. It required lenders and agencies to submit formal plans detailing how they would identify barriers to credit and hold bad actors accountable.

— Holden Walter-Warner