The National Housing Conference is urging the Treasury Department and Federal Housing Finance Agency to remove restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's multifamily programs.
The advocacy group argues that the GSEs' multifamily programs should not be penalized because of the massive losses suffered by their single-family programs.
NHC would like the government sponsored enterprises to make forward commitments on MF construction loans and provide more credit enhancements for bonds issued by state housing finance agencies.
Fannie and Freddie backed multifamily loans have a serious delinquency rate of less than 1%.
"The soundness of the GSEs existing book of multifamily business opens up a range of policy options that merit consideration for more effectively meeting the nation’s current multifamily housing needs," NHC says in a new policy statement.
NHC also wants the White House and Congress to pay more attention to the needs of multifamily housing finance as they craft plans to restructure Fannie and Freddie.
"Multifamily housing finance must be addressed directly and separately from single-family finance," said NHC president and chief executive Maureen Friar. "That is the only way to ensure that renters have an adequate supply of multifamily properties with affordable rents."
NHC was formed in 1931 to promote safe, decent and affordable housing for the nation.
