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CREFC News

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News

FHFA Rescinds Multifamily Lease Policies

April 1, 2025

Newly appointed Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte published orders on social media platform X last week, rescinding a 2024 FHFA directive entitled “Aligned Policies on Multifamily Rental Payment Flexibility and Lease Notices.

Why it matters: The order eliminates a Biden-era policy requiring that GSE multifamily loan documents mandate various notices and grace periods for tenants.

Background: In July 2024, the FHFA announced mandatory tenant protections, via loan agreements, for multifamily properties financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs). The effort was part of a broader push to examine tenant protection policies at the GSEs, including possible rent control.
 
  • The July 2024 press release noted that this is “the first time that tenant protections will be a standard component of Enterprise multifamily financing.”
  • Effective February 28, 2025, covered housing providers would have been required to provide tenants with the following:
    • 30-day written notice of a rent increase;
    • 30-day written notice of a lease expiration; and
    • 5-day grace period for rent payments.

Last week, FHFA Director Pulte ordered the rescission of an advisory bulletin requiring the GSEs to develop a “climate-related risk management framework into its existing enterprise risk management program.”

As covered in CREFC’s most recent Policy and Capital Markets Briefing, Pulte revamped the boards of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and is now chair of each board. Freddie Mac CEO Diana Reid was let go and FHFA Chief Operating Officer Gina Cross and Human Resources Director Monica Matthews were placed on leave.

Please contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) with any questions.
 

Contact 

Sairah Burki
Managing Director,
Head of Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability
703.201.4294
sburki@crefc.org
The information provided herein is general in nature and for educational purposes only. CRE Finance Council makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, validity, usefulness, or suitability of the information provided. The information should not be relied upon or interpreted as legal, financial, tax, accounting, investment, commercial or other advice, and CRE Finance Council disclaims all liability for any such reliance. © 2025 CRE Finance Council. All rights reserved.
FHFA Rescinds Multifamily Lease Policies
April 1, 2025
Newly appointed Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte published orders on social media platform X last week.

News

Update: Special Elections

April 1, 2025

Florida will hold special elections to fill vacancies in its 1st and 6th Congressional Districts today. Both of these seats have been reliably Republican for decades, but observers point to trends that suggest Democrats may outperform. 

Why it matters: Control of the House currently sits on a razor’s edge with Republicans holding the tightest majority since the Great Depression. These races have received outsized media attention, as they may indicate how the Trump administration’s early policy actions are being received by the public. 

  • A Democratic victory in either seat is extremely unlikely, but a significant underperformance by the GOP could indicate the public is souring on the Trump administration’s actions. 
  • Concern over special elections came to a head last week when President Donald Trump withdrew Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) nomination to serve as his ambassador to the U.N. President Trump later posted on Truth social, stating it was “essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress.” 
  • Many political observers took this to mean that Republicans were worried about defending Rep. Stefanik’s seat in upstate New York or losing one of the special elections today in Florida.

By the numbers: Both Florida races have drawn significant attention and funding with Democratic candidates is vastly outraising Republicans, $15.7 million to $3 million.

Florida's 1st Congressional District: This district, covering Florida's western Panhandle, is a Republican stronghold with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+19.

  • Jimmy Patronis (R): Former Florida Chief Financial Officer.
  • Gay Valimont (D): Athletic trainer and gun violence prevention activist.

Florida's 6th Congressional District: The 6th District includes Flagler, Lake, Marion, Putnam, St. Johns, and Volusia counties. This seat is also a Republican stronghold, but less so than the 1st district with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+7. 

  • Randy Fine (R): State senator from the 19th district.
  • Josh Weil (D): Middle school teacher and political newcomer.

Bottom Line: The results of these elections will be spun by both parties no matter the outcome, but both seats are heavily Republican districts and are expected to remain under GOP control. 

  • A Democratic victory or even a tight Republican win in either seat will be viewed as a signal the public is souring on the Trump administration. 
  • Alternatively, a comfortable Republican victory would signal that the GOP is in a better political environment than many had thought.

Contact James Montfort (jmontfort@crefc.org) with any questions.

Contact 

James Montfort
Manager,
Government Relations
202.448.0857
jmontfort@crefc.org
The information provided herein is general in nature and for educational purposes only. CRE Finance Council makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, validity, usefulness, or suitability of the information provided. The information should not be relied upon or interpreted as legal, financial, tax, accounting, investment, commercial or other advice, and CRE Finance Council disclaims all liability for any such reliance. © 2025 CRE Finance Council. All rights reserved.
Update: Special Elections
April 1, 2025
Florida will hold special elections to fill vacancies in its 1st and 6th Congressional Districts today. Both of these seats have been reliably Republican for decades, but observers point to trends that suggest Democrats may outperform.

News

First 100 Days: Regulatory Update

April 1, 2025

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on March 27 to review several high-profile nominations including:

  • Paul Atkins for Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair;
  • Jonathan Gould for Comptroller of the Currency; and 
  • Luke Pettit for Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 

Atkins, who faced criticism from Democrats because he served as a commissioner at the SEC and sought to deregulate investment banks prior to the 2008 financial crisis, defended his deregulatory record. He said he would restore the agency’s focus on capital formation and depoliticization and noted that GSE reform remains incomplete: 

What troubles me is that some of the key factors are still unaddressed. That’s Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac’s activities in the marketplace, and how that could potentially create problems in the future.
Gould committed to supporting removing reputational risk from bank examinations and ending de-banking practices, while facing questions over digital asset guidance and his past work with large corporate banks.

What they're saying: Pettit emphasized the need for supervisory reform following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and voiced support for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

  • When asked by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meant by a comment that financial regulators should be “singing in unison,” Pettit suggested Treasury is not looking to exert direct control over federal banking agencies and that bank regulators “do operate independently.”

However, according to Semafor, the Treasury Department is drafting recommendations for streamlining banking regulators like the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), “after concluding that the agencies and their workers likely can’t be merged without a green light from Congress.”

  • Why it matters: Treasury Secretary Bessent appears to be building on a recent order President Donald Trump signed directing the Fed and other independent agencies to submit regulations to the Office of Management and Budget for review.
What's next: The Senate Banking Committee will vote on Atkins, Gould, and Pettit in Executive Session on Thursday, April 3. Please see the Regulatory Tracker for an updated status on the financial regulators.
 
Last week also saw the unwinding of a key Biden-era regulation.
 
On March 28, the federal bank regulatory agencies announced their intent to:
 
  • Issue a proposal to both rescind the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule (issued October 2023) and 
  • Reinstate the CRA framework that existed prior to the rule. In 2023, the Biden administration revamped the CRA rule requiring banks to lend to lower-income communities in areas where they have a concentration of mortgage and small-business loans, rather than just where they have physical branches, to bring, as reported by Politico, “the CRA into the modern era of online banking.” 
  • CREFC will share with members the publication of a new proposal. Please see here for our 2022 response to the Biden proposal.
On March 27, the SEC ended the legal defense of its climate risk disclosure rule, with SEC Acting Chair Mark Uyeda calling the rule “costly and unnecessarily intrusive.” In a statement, SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw, the agency's only Democratic commissioner, criticized the decision as an unlawful violation of procedure:
 
This time by skirting the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). We are now firmly in a period of policy-making through avoidance and acquiescence, rather than policy-making through open, transparent, and public processes. This approach does not benefit the markets, capital formation, or investors.
Please contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) with any questions.

Contact  

Sairah Burki
Managing Director,
Head of Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability
703.201.4294
sburki@crefc.org
The information provided herein is general in nature and for educational purposes only. CRE Finance Council makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, validity, usefulness, or suitability of the information provided. The information should not be relied upon or interpreted as legal, financial, tax, accounting, investment, commercial or other advice, and CRE Finance Council disclaims all liability for any such reliance. © 2025 CRE Finance Council. All rights reserved.
First 100 Days: Regulatory Update
April 1, 2025
The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on March 27 to review several high-profile nominations.

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