NAR: We’re Ready to Work With Biden’s Pick for FHFA Director

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday the nomination of Sandra Thompson, the current acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to lead the agency. The National Association of REALTORS® welcomed the announcement and said it looked forward to collaborating with Thompson to resolve challenges in the housing market and secure the future of the housing finance system.

Thompson’s “talents and experience will benefit the enterprises, homeowners and home buyers, and the mortgage financing ecosystem,” Leslie Rouda Smith, NAR’s president, said in a statement following the announcement. “This nomination comes at a time in which the housing market and mortgage finance system face historic challenges.”

Rouda Smith points to more than a million homeowners currently in some form of forbearance or default. “Preserving homeownership or helping homeowners navigate a transition to rental and future homeownership will be an immediate challenge,” Rouda Smith says. “We look forward to working with the FHFA to continue to identify solutions to these challenges as well as working together to clarify and cement the GSEs’ critical role in the housing finance system.”

The Senate will still need to confirm Thompson before her role becomes official. Before being named acting director earlier this year, Thompson had served as the FHFA’s deputy director of Housing Mission and Goals since 2013. In that role, she oversaw the FHFA’s housing and regulatory, capital, and fair lending policy, as well as activities for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. Prior to that, Thompson had worked in various roles for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over two decades.