Three House Democrats announced plans last week to introduce a housing finance reform bill that would expand the availability of capital in the mortgage market while creating a path to sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as independent companies.
Rep. Jim Himes, a Greenwich Democrat, helped draft the bill, now known as the Delaney-Carney-Himes Housing Financial Proposal. The bill, according to the authors, adds discipline to the mortgage market and creates incentives for private capital to flow into it by allowing the private sector to price all of the risk.
“I’m excited to join this effort to merge the efficiency of markets with the scale of government to create a safer, more liquid housing market that will help make housing more affordable while reining in the risk to our economy,” Himes said in a press release. “I look forward to gathering input from housing experts across the spectrum and am particularly interested in working to improve the availability of multi-family housing.”
The bill is expected to compete with various Republican proposals this spring.
