NAHB CEO Howard on Freddie Mac

Jerry Howard, executive vice president and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), issued the following statement on Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron’s remarks (March 12) to investors and stock analysts in New York regarding Freddie Mac’s refusal to raise more capital to help the  housing market:

“As a congressionally chartered enterprise, Freddie Mac has two significant and equal responsibilities - that of serving its housing mission and its shareholders. With the housing market in the midst of its worst downturn in decades and millions of Americans facing foreclosure or unable to obtain financing to buy a home, Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron said yesterday that his chief interest is making money for his shareholders. It is now painfully obvious that the company has strayed light years away from its other vitally important congressionally mandated mission of ensuring an adequate flow of credit for housing and home buyers.

“This underscores the need for Congress to act now to enact comprehensive reform of the GSEs and strengthen the regulatory oversight over these institutions so that they can return to an aggressive pursuit of their housing mission. Today’s mortgage credit crunch has profound implications not just for housing, but for the overall economy, which, at best, is teetering on the brink of recession.

“It is deeply discouraging that a company that should be doing everything within its power to restore liquidity to the marketplace has instead decided to neglect that responsibility.”