
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993                   TAG: 9310130060
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GOAL: MORE LOW-INCOME MORTGAGES

The Clinton administration set performance goals Tuesday for the two largest investors in home mortgages that it hopes will substantially increase the supply of affordable housing.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said the goals call for 30 percent of the mortgage purchases by the congressionally chartered Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. to support low- and moderate-income housing by 1994.

The goals also set standards for mortgage purchases in central cities and require targeted mortgage purchases in very low-income areas and for very low-income families. Congress instructed HUD to set the goals last year.

"While the goals will require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to significantly expand their affordable-housing portfolios, they are fair and necessary," said HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

"Given their unique status as government-sponsored enterprises, they have obligations as well as unparalleled opportunities to increase the supply of affordable housing."

Both enterprises are congressionally chartered, shareholder-owned companies. They buy mortgages from lenders, such as banks, and package some into securities, which they sell to investors. They retain others in their own portfolios.

Fannie Mae also would have to target $2 billion and Freddie Mac would target $1.5 billion for very low-income families in 1993-94.

by CNB