Crisis response with the most vulnerable in mind

Revisit the critical days of March and April 2020 in Washington on the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast. In this episode — sponsored by Intrafi — former Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria discusses his new book Shelter from the Storm: How a COVID Mortgage Meltdown Was Averted. Calabria recounts the key decisions made in designing COVID-19 forbearance policies for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-owned mortgages and how he tried to avoid problems experienced during the post-financial crisis forbearance programs.

Whereas many observers believed post-2008 relief was not well-targeted, Calabria said FHFA sought to target COVID forbearance to those who needed it most, including encouraging landlords to pass on relief to renters who otherwise cannot tap into homeowner forbearance. In the end, he says, 2 million Americans were helped and the relief was fully paid for by the GSEs. Calabria also discusses lessons for future crisis responses.