Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, two US Congress-chartered GSE’s (Government Sponsored Enterprises) have been blamed by many for causing the 2008 US credit crisis that brought the housing industry to a standstill, bankrupted enormous numbers of ordinary citizens and put hundreds of thousands of homeowners out on the streets. One horrendous consequence was a dramatic shrinking of the market for affordable rental housing over the last ten years, as displaced homeowners have struggled to stay housed by renting instead.
Bailout for corporate ‘Fat Cats’ followed the meltdown, and included Freddie Mac and Fannie May, which made them, if possible, even more unpopular.
Now the US Government has announced that these two GSE’s are back in the game again. Read about the newly announced permissions, and the steps which the government plans to take to prevent undue influence of these two agencies in the affordable housing market, in Financial Regulation News: Fannie, Freddie to re-enter Low Income Housing Tax Credit Market
For a background history of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae involvement in the 2008 credit crisis, read about it in Investopedia: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac And The Credit Crisis Of 2008
To understand why the 2008 crisis had such a negative effect on the rental housing market in the US, read in The Washington Post: America’s affordable-housing stock dropped by 60 percent from 2010 to 2016
