Duty to Serve

Enacted in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and launched in 2017, Duty to Serve (DTS) is a federal regulation that requires Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to provide affordable housing financing to low- and moderate-income American families in three underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation, and rural housing. Published right after the conclusion of the Enterprises’ first three-year DTS strategic planning cycle, this policy brief outlines what is and isn’t working, and offers key recommendations for the Enterprises to improve the current DTS structure and increase capital access within the next few years.

This policy brief is based on the working paper by Jim Gray and George W. McCarthy, “Duty to Serve: The Purpose of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Early Lessons Learned in Underserved Housing Markets.”

About the Authors

Jim Gray is a senior fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

George W. McCarthy is president and CEO of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.