NAHB joins with CNU to Lobby for Fannie/Freddie changes

CNU is pleased to announce a significant development in removing a major obstacle to the creation of good urbanism. In a partnership with the National Town Builders Association (NTBA) and CNU, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has agreed to push Fannie and Freddie to relax their standard to allow for more mixed-use development. The standard also applies to mortgages guranteed by HUD.  

The current threshold for commercial space for Fannie/Freddie is 25 percent. NAHB will encourage them to raise that to 45 percent, which provides a broad swath of mixed-use urban infill and Main Street buildings suddenly eligible for new sources of financing.

We at CNU would like to thank CNU member and NAHB Board member William Tuyn, Frank Starkey of NTBA, and Jerry Howard and the NAHB board for their support to-date. These and future efforts will help provide critical financial backing that will improve the long-term health of our cities. We encourage you to communicate your support of this effort to HUD Secretary Donovan. Email Shaun Donovan today at secretary.donovan@hud.gov.

Mixed-use will be a hot topic at CNU 19. Don’t miss our 202 B — “Small Increment Urbanism: Fun With Challenging Development Math.”