Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte made moves to rescind several Biden-era actions at the end of March, according to his X posts.
One of the moves was to cancel directives from July and August 2024 on protections for multifamily properties financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The FHFA had mandated that housing providers with new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans signed on or after Feb. 28, 2025, would be required to provide tenants a 30-day written notice of a rent increase, a 30-day written notice of a lease expiration, and a five-day grace period for rent payments.
According to the FHFA in 2024, this was the first time that tenant protections would be a standard component of multifamily financing by the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). At the time, they were being implemented after FHFA’s ongoing engagement with market participants and key stakeholders on tenant issues.
Initially, the FHFA had issued a three-month pause on the directive at the end of February. A coalition of industry associations, including National Apartment Association (NAA), National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), National Association of Home Builders, and National Leased Housing Association, had encouraged the delay, citing more time was needed for the Trump administration to evaluate where the directive aligned with the president’s priorities.
“NMHC applauds action taken by FHFA on March 25 rescinding the federally mandated rental housing provider and resident requirements that were imposed on covered multifamily properties financed by the Enterprises under a Biden-era directive,” stated the organization. “Many states and local governments have existing laws and policies related to lease notices and grace periods for late fees, as Pulte said in this order. Requiring the enterprises to incorporate additional federal requirements will only increase costs and discourage investment at a time when we must take steps to lower housing cost and increase supply. This was one of the key issues highlighted by NMHC and NAA in our March 3 letter to the White House requesting a thorough review of 32 federal programs, rules, and regulations at 10 different agencies.”
Another FHFA move was to rescind an advisory bulletin from November 2024 regarding the GSEs’ compliance with unfair or deceptive acts or practices (UDAP) under the Federal Trade Commission and the Dodd-Frank Act.
“The November bulletin’s specific expectations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to conduct consumer protection oversight of their customers wrongly established the GSEs as compliance regulators, was duplicative of federal and state regulatory oversight of UDAPs and would have negatively impacted consumers and lenders through higher costs,” said Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, which raised the concerns at the time of the policy’s release. “Commonsense regulation and oversight are crucial to ensuring that the GSEs operate in a safe and sound manner that allows them to continue their pivotal role in providing affordable homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all Americans.”
In addition, Pulte rescinded guidance on managing climate-related risks released in May 2024. This called for the GSEs to establish and integrate a climate-related risk management framework into its existing risk management program.
