National + Finance | March 25, 2020

GSEs Will Provide Relief to Multifamily Borrowers During COVID-19

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced separately that they would implement a nationwide relief plan for multifamily borrowers and their tenants, in coordination with the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Both GSEs will allow lenders to grant forbearance for up to three months to borrowers experiencing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the forbearance plan, borrowers must agree to suspend evictions of tenants who are facing financial hardship due to the current crisis. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac estimate that this will provide relief to some 4.2 million renters.

At Freddie Mac Multifamily, EVP Debby Jenkins said the program was “historic in its size, and it has the potential to provide relief to millions of families.” Fannie Mae SVP Jeffery Hayward said the GSE was well-positioned to react quickly in this situation, thanks to the strength of our delegated model, the Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS) program.”

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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