The National Fair Housing Alliance Commends Director Thompson’s Tremendous Leadership of FHFA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2025
Media Contact: NFHA@skdknick.com
The National Fair Housing Alliance Commends Director Thompson’s Tremendous Leadership of FHFA
Washington, D.C. – Today, Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance® (NFHA™), released the following statement commending Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director, Sandra L. Thompson for her unwavering commitment to ensuring fairness is a critical component of the agency’s responsibilities:
“Under her historic tenure as the first Black woman to lead FHFA, Director Thompson has ensured our mortgage market’s safety and strength while also advancing equitable access to credit and homeownership opportunities, particularly for people of color, low- and moderate-income households, rural areas, and other underserved communities. As a result, hundreds of thousands of underserved people, who worked hard to achieve the American Dream, were able to obtain a safe, affordable, high-performing mortgage loan to become homeowners and help secure their families’ futures.
Director Thompson guided the agency in implementing a number of firsts, including entering a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding on Fair Housing and Lending with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to advance fair housing and fair lending oversight and enforcement, and requiring Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to develop Equitable Housing Finance Plans to identify and address barriers to fair and sustainable housing opportunities. Director Thompson elevated the Division of Public Interest Examination to its rightful place as a senior office on par with FHFA’s safety and soundness division recognizing that fairness is an integral component of safety and soundness. She also eliminated the Adverse Market Refinance Fee to help families take advantage of low-interest rates and reduce their housing costs. Additionally, Director Thompson led the FHFA and Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) in conducting comprehensive research to make much-needed data-driven updates to the GSEs’ credit scoring and pricing framework.
Director Thompson has been a bold and visionary leader pursuing every effort to ensure our nation’s housing and lending institutions work for all people and communities. It is my sincere hope that her successor will build on her great work to help fulfill the GSEs’ Congressionally mandated obligation to provide assistance and credit liquidity for low- and moderate-income families as well as “central cities, rural areas, and underserved areas.”
Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President, of the National Fair Housing Alliance® (NFHA™), said the following:
“Today we honor Director Sandra L. Thompson’s distinguished and trailblazing tenure as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Director Thompson has been an exemplary leader of the agency, drawing on more than four decades of experience as a civil servant and lifelong commitment to ensuring markets are safe, accessible, and fair.
As FHFA Director, Ms. Thompson led the agency that oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks (GSEs) and their roles in the $12 trillion mortgage market, working tirelessly to ensure the GSEs meet their public interest missions, provide support and liquidity for Special Purpose Credit Programs, address appraisal bias, and eliminate longstanding barriers to affordable and quality credit. These actions contributed to growth of Black and Latino homeownership by 13 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, and declines in homeownership gaps between Black and Latino communities with White communities. In fact, these policies contributed to Black homeownership growing for the first time since the Great Recession’s unnecessary foreclosures and loss of billions of dollars in family wealth.
FHFA under Director Thompson’s guidance played a pivotal role in ensuring the stability, affordability, and accessibility of the U.S. housing market. We enthusiastically thank Director Thompson for her years of public service and unwavering commitment to upholding the mission of the agency to foster equitable and sustainable access to homeownership and rental housing and ensuring our nation’s housing policies promote opportunity for all.”
About the National Fair Housing Alliance
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.