Fannie, Freddie vow eviction freeze

• Housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Monday they would freeze mortgage payments on sublet properties provided that landlords agree not to evict their tenants, in another move by regulators to assist borrowers hurt by the coronavirus.

Earlier on Monday, the U. S. Federal Reserve said it was tweaking its rules to make it easier for banks to keep lending by reducing the restrictions they would face when dipping into one of their capital buffers.

Financial regulators have been scrambling this month to ease rules and provide incentives to make it more attractive for banks to continue providing credit to the economy as the coronavirus tips the country into a sharp recession.

The frantic efforts in Washington were evident on Monday when the Treasury Department said at the last minute that a scheduled afternoon meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a group of financial regulators, had been postponed to later in the week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who chairs that panel, has been engaged in talks to craft an economic relief bill with Congress.

The eviction relief, announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency that oversees Fannie and Freddie, aims to limit evictions by reassuring landlords that they will not be penalized if their tenants cannot pay the rent.

The relief is available to any multi- family property owners who have a mortgage that is guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie, which accounts for roughly 20 per cent of the multi-family market.

Last week, the FHFA announced a 60- day freeze on foreclosures against single-family mortgages backed by the pair, which guarantee roughly half of the residential mortgage market.