Yesterday, the federal agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the giant government-run finance firms that back the mortgages of 28 million homeowners, ordered a suspension of foreclosures and foreclosure-related evictions for at least two months. The move is meant to keep people in their homes and avoid a housing squeeze like the one that followed the mortgage-fueled financial crisis of 2008. And over the past week, there has been a groundswell across the country to protect renters as well. The Miami-Dade police in Florida said that they wouldn’t carry out evictions during the health crisis. A high-ranking New York State judge declared that the courts would consider no eviction cases until further notice. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California issued an executive order allowing cities to impose eviction moratoriums.
Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will suspend foreclosures and evictions for at least 60 days as federal and business leaders respond to the growing COVID-19 crisis that will cost people their jobs and likely tip the economy into a recession.
In a statement Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said the suspension by the mortgage giants applies to homeowners with a single-family mortgage, backed by either company.
Separately, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said that the Federal Housing Administration will be putting a sixty-day moratorium on foreclosures and evictions of single-family homeowners. It is also calling for a halt to all evictions of those living in FHA-insured single-family homes.
The moratorium only applies if you have a mortgage through these entities.
If you are not able to make your mortgage payment and are facing foreclosure, contact your mortgage company and ask how to proceed.