Financial Services to discuss White House housing plan with Geithner

The nation’s housing finance system has been a partisan battleground for years, as Republicans, particularly in the House, have bashed Democrats for failing to control mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) had to be taken into federal conservatorship following the housing crisis, and have been propped up with over $100 billion in federal assistance.

The administration’s report, released Feb. 11, does manage to hit some common notes with the GOP, calling for the eventual winding-down of the GSEs and a substantially larger role for the private sector going forward. It lays out three options for the future of the nation’s housing finance system.

However, it diverges with Republicans by demanding that the government play some role in the housing market under each of the three options, even if it is relatively small and limited to assistance for low- and middle-income borrowers.

Many Republicans on Bachus’s panel have called for the housing system to be handled entirely by the private sector.

“Comprehensive reform of housing finance must … have as its ultimate goal a system based on private capital, not taxpayer subsidies,” Bachus said Wednesday.