FHFA appoints inaugural members of affordable housing advisory committee

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Thursday named the inaugural members of its newly created advisory committee on affordable, equitable and sustainable housing.

The purpose of the committee is to provide nonbinding advice to the agency on how Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks can achieve their goals as a “reliable and responsible source of liquidity and funding“ across the single-family and multifamily housing sectors.

The FHFA began soliciting applications for the committee in September 2023. It initially sought members with expertise in fields such as fair lending, fair housing, civil rights, capital markets, investments, single-family and multifamily lending, community advocacy, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, research and more.

The committee’s charter states that representatives will report directly to FHFA Director Sandra Thompson. Members will not be paid for their service but will be reimbursed for travel and miscellaneous expenses at an estimated cost of $325,000 per year to the agency. The group will not have access to confidential information and will not be directly responsible for setting agency policies.

“I thank the Committee members for their willingness to share their deep housing expertise with FHFA,” Thompson said in a statement. “The wide-ranging factors driving the Nation’s housing affordability challenges will be best identified and addressed with perspectives anchored in on-the-ground experience.”

The committee is scheduled to meet for the first time this fall and each member will serve a two-year term. The inaugural committee members are:

• Laura Arce, senior vice president of economic initiatives, UnidosUS
• Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president, National Fair Housing Alliance
• David N. Castillo, CEO, Native Community Capital
• Ozaa EchoMaker, leader and organizer, Bozeman Tenants United
• Ofo Ezeugwu, founder and CEO, WYL.co (WhoseYourLandlord)
• Lisa Gomez, CEO, L+M Development Partners LLC
• Tiena Johnson Hall, executive director, California Housing Finance Agency
• Alexis Iwanisziw, senior vice president of policy and communications, Inclusiv
• Lark Mallory, president and CEO, Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus & Franklin County (Ohio)
• Michael Newman, general counsel, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
• Pamela Patenaude, principal, Granite Housing Strategies LLC
• Sosseh Prom, national housing justice director, African Communities Together
• Janneke Ratcliffe, vice president, Urban Institute Housing Finance Policy Center
• Paula Reeves, president of affordable housing, Land Home Financial
• Sipho Simela, founder and CEO, Matrix Rental Solutions
• Debra W. Still, vice chair, Pulte Financial Services
• Sheri Thompson, executive vice president and head of affordable housing, Walker & Dunlop
• Eileen Tu, vice president of mortgage policy and credit development, Rocket Mortgage
• John Wiechmann, president and CEO, Midwest Housing Equity Group Inc.
• Stacie Young, president and CEO, Community Investment Corp.