A plan to replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a Market Access Fund (MAF) has been proposed by two U. S. senators as well as by several analytic firms and think tanks. Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Mark Warner (D-Vir.) say their reform bill would create the MAF from basis points added to mortgage-backed securities (MBS). A joint proposal by Moody Analytics, Urban Institute and Milken Institute states a six basis point MBS fee would eventually provide $5 billion in annual revenue, sufficient for a stable MAF funding source. Since it will be difficult to back affordable housing initiatives that have been the province of the GSEs, a percentage of the MBS fees would establish a National Housing Trust Fund to maintain and create sufficient inventory of adequate rental housing for extremely low-income families. In addition, as MHProNews has learned from nationalmortgagenews, the fees would fund research to make certain all sectors are being served by the new arrangement.
