Credit scoring firm VantageScore Solutions appointed fintech veteran Silvio Tavares as its new President and CEO. Tavares most recently led the Digital Commerce Alliance, a trade association of financial firms involved in the digital marketplace he founded, and worked as a senior executive at Visa and Fiserv\First Data. He replaces former VantageScore head Barrett Burns, who will remain at the company in the newly created role of Vice Chairman.

VantageScore is heavily involved in efforts to expand credit scoring services to underserved populations. It claims its model can score 96% of consumers, many of whom cannot obtain credit scores from traditional models without sacrificing safety standards. The firm currently awaited a decision by FHFA on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could use its model to score the mortgages they purchase.

Phil Bracken, VantageScore managing director of mortgage marketplace and government & industry relations, noted the importance of expanding credit scoring access at NHC’s recent Tech & Housing Online Symposium. “80% of new households formation in the next 20 years will be people of color,” he said during a panel on artificial intelligence and the future of housing equity. “We must engineer policies, programs, and processes to meet that need because if we’re not meeting that need, then we’re not meeting the needs of America.”

NHC released the Fall 2021 report on its Paycheck to Paycheck database on Wednesday. The report focused on housing affordability challenges for workers of 15 occupations that will see increased employment if Congress passes the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The report noted that workers from bus drivers to electricians would likely find it difficult to afford housing across much of the country. The report also made clear that homeownership was out of reach for workers of all but one of the occupations NHC profiled. Even renting a 2-bedroom apartment would be challenging for many.

NHC President and CEO David Dworkin said that the report demonstrated how important it is to expand federal investments in housing. “Our report drives home the importance of including housing provisions in the reconciliation package currently under negotiation in Congress,” he said. “Lawmakers should make it their top priority to ensure that infrastructure workers have access to affordable rental housing and homeownership.” Without such support, he warned that projects authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would stall as contractors struggle to find workers able to live near work sites.

On Wednesday, FHFA announced an increase in the 2022 multifamily lending caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises). The caps were set at $78 billion for each, an increase of $8 billion from the previous year, for a combined total of $156 billion for multifamily housing investment. The announcement also included updated definitions for the Enterprises “mission-driven” affordable housing, allowing for loans to be made in cost-burdened markets for incomes of 100% or 120% of AMI. Further, FHFA increased the required percentage of multifamily business at 60% or lower AMI from 20% to 25%. 

The changes take a three-pronged approach to bolstering liquidity in the multifamily market by increasing the total lending cap overall, increasing the required targeted lending to properties serving 60% AMI or less, and allowing for lending in high-cost areas up to 120% AMI to capture expensive rental markets. Each update addresses a specific need in the multifamily market. According to FHFA Acting Director Sandra Thompson, “The increases of the multifamily loan purchase caps and higher mission-driven business requirements assure that the enterprises’ multifamily businesses have a strong and growing commitment to affordable housing finance, particularly for residents and communities that are the most difficult to serve.”

Ginnie Mae’s mortgage-backed security (MBS) issuance volume in fiscal year 2021 was a record $939 billion, the agency reported last week. The record issuance is in line with 2021’s booming home purchase market, which saw home prices reach record highs across the country as consumer preferences shifted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ginnie Mae noted that the issuance “reflects the strength and value of the Ginnie Mae program in meeting the mortgage needs of homebuyers and rental property owners.” However, some advocates have cautioned that the government-backed buyers the agency serves are at an increasing disadvantage in the hot homeownership market. In her nomination hearing last week, Alanna McCargo, President Biden’s nominee to lead the agency, said that though Ginnie Mae’s role in reducing pressures on government-backed buyers was limited, she would do what she could to increase their competitiveness in the wake of the pandemic. “If confirmed, I would continue to work with Ginnie Mae and the teams in the interagency working group to ensure that those families find security and have a healthy recovery from this crisis,” she said.

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it had joined the Central Bank Network for Indigenous Inclusion (CBNII), a consortium of central banks dedicated to fostering indigenous people’s inclusion in the banking system. The Fed joined the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Canada, and New Zealand’s Te Pūtea Matua, which joined CBNII as inaugural members in April.

CBNII has not made any major moves since its creation. However, members have expressed interest in using the network to increase central banks’ understanding of indigenous communities’ common problems and extend membership to other countries’ central banks. The Fed said that its participation in the network would be supported by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ Center for Indian Country Development and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Economic Education Partnership with Indian Country.

HUD announced on Wednesday that it had awarded over $15.7 million in grants to 18 universities and research organizations to study improving the detection and abatement of lead and other environmental hazards. The grants may also be used to develop methods of incorporating weatherization and other measures to increase resilience into lead abatement efforts.