It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of James A. Johnson, the former president and CEO of Fannie Mae. He was a leader and mentor who influenced the lives and careers of a generation of housing industry leaders, and pursued a strategy of doing well by doing good that propelled Fannie Mae into an nationwide leader of affordable housing. During his tenure, he also turned the company into an economic powerhouse, growing its annual net income over 300 percent.

As Chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, he created the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, which offers free performances every night of the year. He considered this his most important legacy. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Brookings Institution.

I’ll never forget my first week at Fannie Mae, when my boss took me to a meeting of the company’s Operating Committee to introduce me to the senior officers I would be working with in my new role. He drew a map of the conference table on a sheet of paper, writing down the name and title of each of the participants while Jim went around the table for his weekly update. The diversity of the team blew me away. I never had seen anything like, and unfortunately haven’t seen anything like it since. The Vice Chair and EVP for Multifamily were Black men, the Treasurer and EVP for Single Family were women, the chief credit risk officer was a Hispanic man, and – most impactfully – two traditionally minority roles, HR and Affordable Housing, were White guys. All of them were among the most brilliant minds in the housing industry. I remember thinking, “this is what diversity looks like. This is what it looks like when the CEO gets it.” Today, there are few executive teams in every facet of mortgage finance that don’t include an alumni of Jim Johnson’s Fannie Mae.

His family has noted that “over the last few days, we’ve received hundreds of messages from friends, family, former colleagues, and mentees. We’ve read letters to him at his bedside relaying stories of the life-changing advice he gave, generous favors he bestowed, and impactful contributions to his city, country, and world. Each message brought him joy.”

Memories of Jim, and more information on his tremendous legacy, may be shared here.

This week saw another series of updates related to the passage of a new stimulus package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) resumed talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The pair continues to refine the terms of a deal, ranging from $1.8 trillion to $2.2 trillion, that both House Democrats and the White House would support. Democratic leadership in the House remains critical of the White House’s position, with House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) expressing concern over issues such as rental relief, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding and the national testing strategy.

Much of the back and forth this week between the House, Senate and administration revolved around these issues. Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Mnuchin negotiated terms around the country’s strategic testing plan. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Secretary Mnuchin said the administration was “not going to let the testing issue stand in the way” of getting a deal done. Just one day prior, however, Secretary Mnuchin acknowledged that “at this point getting something done before the election and executing on that would be difficult.”

Despite the White House’s apparent openness to a $1.8+ trillion package, the Senate GOP has maintained its $500 billion ceiling on any new stimulus. During remarks in his home state on Thursday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, “My members think half a trillion dollars, highly targeted, is the best way to go.”

Majority Leader McConnell has indicated his priority will be passing new PPP funding. “When the full Senate returns on Oct. 19, our first order of business will be voting again on targeted relief for American workers, including new funding for the PPP,” he said in a statement this week. Sunday Morning on This Week with Georg Stephanopoulos, Speaker Pelosi said the White House has less than two days to finalize a deal with Democrats to have any chance of muscling through a trillion-dollar-plus bill before the election.

The National Association of REALTORS® published the findings of its 2020 Community and Transportation Preference Survey. At a time when both community life and transportation have been upended by the pandemic, the survey found that features such as access to public transportation and satisfaction with quality of life have declined. The survey also reported a growing interest in suburban living with more than 50% of respondents indicating they’d prefer a bigger yard and larger home in a less densely populated area.

A new MIT study shines a light on the unequal cost of homeownership for Black households compared to their White cohorts. The study breaks down the “Black tax” on homeownership, finding that Black households pay on average an extra $743 in mortgage interest payments, $550 in mortgage insurance premiums and $390 in property taxes each year, resulting in an added cost of more than $13,000 over the life of the loan.

CalMatters profiled the experience of several tenants who worked with the Oakland Community Land Trust in California to purchase the dilapidated rental property they lived in. The land trust has begun renovations of the property and plans to have tenants “manage the building’s maintenance and live cooperatively,” while also preserving the property’s affordable rents. The project was backed by the city and $500 million+ Bay’s Future Fund.

A recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond examines how different policy and safety measures, including social distancing and the availability of testing kits, influence the spread of COVID-19 within localities. The new statistical model introduced in the study and developed based on epidemiological research offers a roadmap for assessing the progression of COVID-19 over time in different states across the country.

AHTCC: Virtual advocacy and engagement, 2 – 3 p.m. ET

Urban Institute: State of counties 2020; budgets, ballots and public health, noon – 1 p.m. ET

Brookings: Charting a new course toward economic, social and environmental progress, 9 – 9:45 a.m., ET

Next City: Diana Lind on ‘Brave New Home,’ 1 – 2 p.m. ET

Brookings: Economic recovery in American cities; building Black businesses and wealth, 2 – 3 p.m. ET

MBA: Loan level mortgage accounting, 2 – 3:30 p.m. ET

Urban Institute: Access to opportunity through equitable transportation, 2 – 3 p.m. ET

AEI: Improving employment retention and building career opportunities for low-wage workers, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET

National Alliance to End Homelessness: Researching an end to homelessness; election year policy ideas, 2 p.m. ET

HUD: Agency COOP and emergency response plan, 2 – 3 p.m. ET

MBA: Introduction to USDA’s no down-payment loans, 2 – 3 p.m. ET

NCRC: Consumer data protection during COVID-19, 2 – 3:30 p.m. ET

NLIHC: COVID-19 and housing stability; state and local eviction prevention strategies, 2:30 – 4 p.m. ET

NMHC: Two weeks out; where do the elections stand, 3 p.m. ET

Urban Institute: Measuring the crisis; housing data during the COVID-19 pandemic, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET