Fannie Pledges $35B for Bay Area

Fannie Mae has announced a $35 billion affordable housing investment initiative that will help provide up to 200,000 families or individuals with homeownership and rental opportunities in the San Francisco Bay area over the next five years.The Fannie Mae Bay Area Partnership Office will implement the new strategy to reach out to the southern counties of Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz in addition to counties in the Bay area. Fannie Mae said the Bay area initiative (part of its $2 trillion American Dream Commitment) is an extension of its $16 billion five-year housing strategy of 1999, which was completed a year ahead of schedule. Related loans purchased by Fannie Mae have served 16,549 first-time homebuyers, 26,178 minority borrowers, and 28,305 low- and moderate-income borrowers in the Bay area, the government-sponsored enterprise said. Fannie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.fanniemae.com.