LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance Statement on the Repeal of FHFA Equitable Housing Finance Plan Requirements
The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance is deeply concerned by the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s decision to repeal the Equitable Housing Finance Plan requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, effective March 9, 2026.
While existing fair housing laws technically remain in place, this action removes a critical layer of accountability that required the government-sponsored enterprises to proactively examine, measure, and address persistent disparities in mortgage access and homeownership. These plans were not symbolic—they were practical tools that drove data collection, transparency, and intentional strategies to reduce barriers before discrimination occurred.
For many LGBTQ households—particularly LGBTQ people of color, first-time buyers, immigrants, and families with nontraditional income structures—the path to homeownership is already more complex. The Equitable Housing Finance Plans helped shine a light on those challenges and encouraged solutions at the institutional level. Their repeal risks shifting the system away from prevention and toward a complaint-driven model that places the burden on individual borrowers rather than on the institutions that shape our nation’s housing finance landscape.
Housing is not just a transaction. It is the foundation for economic stability, community belonging, and the ability to build generational wealth. When oversight becomes optional rather than expected, progress toward equal access can stall, and underserved communities bear the consequences.
The Alliance urges policymakers to maintain strong federal oversight that:
- Preserves proactive fair housing accountability
- Ensures transparency in mortgage access, lending practices, and outcomes
- Protects underserved communities, including LGBTQ households
As the leading voice for LGBTQ professionals in real estate, we believe a fair and accessible housing market strengthens not only our community, but the integrity and resilience of the entire industry. Equal access to homeownership is essential to fulfilling the promise of opportunity that our housing system is meant to provide.
We call on lawmakers to use their oversight authority to ensure that protections promoting equitable access to housing are strengthened—not weakened—and that our nation remains committed to a housing finance system that works for everyone.