On Monday, March 15, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee (SBC), released his guiding principles for housing finance reform. Taken together, they establish a legislative framework that would “end the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) duopoly and foster a liquid secondary mortgage market while protecting taxpayers and promoting equitable access for all lenders.”

 

Separately, on March 16, the SBC convened for a hearing titled “Home = Life: The State of Housing in America,” where Sen. Toomey described the GSEs as still too big to fail, greatly undercapitalized, and suggested scaling back the government’s role and allowing free enterprise to promote more housing for all Americans. He also expressed his desire to build on past bipartisan efforts and affirmed his commitment to working with Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH). Chairman Brown continued his focus on housing affordability, noting that while record low interest rates have improved circumstances for homeowners, for some, their paychecks have not kept up with the cost of living. He reiterated that more needs to be done to improve the ease and affordability of owning a home in the U.S.

Click here to read more.