The Status of the Housing Finance System After Nine Years of Conservator- Ship
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S. HRG. 115–56 THE STATUS OF THE HOUSING FINANCE SYSTEM AFTER NINE YEARS OF CONSERVATOR- SHIP HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON EXAMINING THE CURRENT FINANCIAL AND OPERATIONAL PERFORM- ANCE OF FANNIE MAE AND FREDDIE MAC, AND EXPLORING OPPOR- TUNITIES FOR LEGISLATIVE REFORM MAY 11, 2017 Printed for the use of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs ( Available at: http://www.fdsys.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 26–521 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:20 Dec 22, 2017 Jkt 046629 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\DOCS\26521.TXT SHERYL COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS MIKE CRAPO, Idaho, Chairman RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama SHERROD BROWN, Ohio BOB CORKER, Tennessee JACK REED, Rhode Island PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey DEAN HELLER, Nevada JON TESTER, Montana TIM SCOTT, South Carolina MARK R. WARNER, Virginia BEN SASSE, Nebraska ELIZABETH WARREN, Massachusetts TOM COTTON, Arkansas HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota MIKE ROUNDS, South Dakota JOE DONNELLY, Indiana DAVID PERDUE, Georgia BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii THOM TILLIS, North Carolina CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada GREGG RICHARD, Staff Director MARK POWDEN, Democratic Staff Director ELAD ROISMAN, Chief Counsel TRAVIS HILL, Senior Counsel GRAHAM STEELE, Democratic Chief Counsel LAURA SWANSON, Democratic Deputy Staff Director ERIN BARRY, Democratic Professional Staff Member MEGAN CHENEY, Democratic Legislative Assistant DAWN RATLIFF, Chief Clerk CAMERON RICKER, Hearing Clerk SHELVIN SIMMONS, IT Director JIM CROWELL, Editor (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:20 Dec 22, 2017 Jkt 046629 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 S:\DOCS\26521.TXT SHERYL CONTENTS THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017 Page Opening statement of Chairman Crapo ................................................................. 1 Opening statements, comments, or prepared statements of: Senator Brown .................................................................................................. 2 WITNESS Melvin L. Watt, Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency ............................... 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 Responses to written questions of: Senator Brown ........................................................................................... 39 Senator Tillis ............................................................................................. 41 Senator Menendez ..................................................................................... 48 Senator Heitkamp ..................................................................................... 52 Senator Warren ......................................................................................... 54 Senator Cortez Masto ................................................................................ 58 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUPPLIED FOR THE RECORD Memorandum dated May 24, 2017, to Melvin L.Watt from Alfred M. Pollard, General Counsel, regarding dividends ............................................................... 65 FHFA’s Enterprise Non-Performing Loan Sales Report, December 2016, sub- mitted by Melvin L. Watt .................................................................................... 67 Letter submitted by the National Associaton of Federally-Insured Credit Unions ................................................................................................................... 101 Letter submitted by the Credit Union National Association ............................... 104 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:20 Dec 22, 2017 Jkt 046629 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\DOCS\26521.TXT SHERYL VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:20 Dec 22, 2017 Jkt 046629 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\DOCS\26521.TXT SHERYL THE STATUS OF THE HOUSING FINANCE SYSTEM AFTER NINE YEARS OF CON- SERVATORSHIP THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met at 10:01 a.m., in room SD–538, Dirksen Sen- ate Office Building, Hon. Mike Crapo, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MIKE CRAPO Chairman CRAPO. The Committee will come to order. Today we will receive testimony from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt on the status of the housing finance sys- tem. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have now been in conservatorship for close to 9 years. In September 2008, then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson famously described the conservatorships as a ‘‘time- out.’’ Today Fannie and Freddie, along with the FHA, continue to dominate the mortgage market. Approximately 70 percent of the mortgages are backed by the Federal Government. While Fannie and Freddie are currently earning profits, if the housing market experiences a downturn, taxpayers could again be on the hook for billions of dollars. The status quo is not a viable option. A housing finance system dependent on two Government-spon- sored enterprises in perpetual conservatorship is not a sustainable solution. Taxpayers today bear too much risk, and the Government plays too big a role in the mortgage market. A number of groups have released proposals for reform in recent months, including the MBA, the ICBA, the Milken Institute, sev- eral co-authors writing jointly for the Urban Institute, and many others. The Committee is considering all of these proposals, as well as other ideas about what the future system should look like. In the meantime, FHFA continues to serve as both conservator and regulator of the enterprises and as regulator of the Federal home loan banks. As conservator of the GSEs, FHFA is obligated to conserve and preserve the assets of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA has undertaken a number of initiatives in recent years, in- cluding some that began prior to Director Watt’s tenure. One (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:20 Dec 22, 2017 Jkt 046629 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\26521.TXT SHERYL 2 significant undertaking is the creation of the Common Securitization Platform. The Platform was originally intended to function like a market utility—independent from the enterprises— that would be used to issue both agency securities and private label securities. The Platform has instead been developed specifically for securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. One important question as we embark on housing finance reform is whether we should utilize the CSP or consider other alternatives, such as ex- panding the Ginnie Mae platform. Another important development in housing finance is the in- creased transfer of credit risk from the enterprises to the private sector. I encourage FHFA and the enterprises to continue to experi- ment with different forms of risk transfer, including both front-end and back-end structures. Transferring credit risk away from the Government and into the private sector is essential to protect tax- payers and to build a more robust and sustainable market. Increasing the amount of credit risk borne by the private sector will be a critical component of housing finance reform, regardless of which direction the Committee ultimately decides to take. I en- courage Director Watt to consider other policies and options to incentivize further private sector participation and to help facilitate the transfer to a new system. Housing finance reform remains the most significant piece of un- finished business following the financial crisis, and it is important to build bipartisan support for a path forward. Three years ago, seven Republicans and six Democrats on this Committee voted in support of a comprehensive housing finance re- form bill. A key priority of this Congress is to build on that bipar- tisan legacy and pass legislation that will create a sustainable housing finance system for future generations. I look forward to working with you, Director Watt, and your staff at the FHFA throughout this process. Senator Brown. STATEMENT OF SENATOR SHERROD BROWN Senator BROWN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Director Watt, wel- come back. Nice to see you again. Thanks for your public service for so many years. I appreciate the Chairman’s calling this hearing and establishing a bipartisan Committee process by which we can consider the con- servatorship of the Government-backed mortgage companies. Since the beginning of the year, there have been several articles claiming that housing finance reform is easy, some calling it an ‘‘easy win’’ for the Trump administration. As the Chairman and as any of us who were on the Committee in 2013 and 2014 know, restructuring a fifth of the economy is far from easy. That does not mean we should avoid considering how the housing market could operate better and how we could prevent emergency Government and emergency taxpayer intervention in fi- nancial markets in the future. Currently, an agreement between Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency requires the Government-sponsored enter- prises to reduce their capital cushions each year until the reserves reach zero in January 2018. At that point GSEs will be prohibited VerDate Nov 24 2008 15:20 Dec 22, 2017 Jkt 046629 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\DOCS\26521.TXT