Tomorrow, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will vote on the nomination of Mark A. Calabria to lead the Fair Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Todd A. Cox, Policy Director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) issued the following statement:
“We have serious concerns about Mark Calabria’s nomination as FHFA director. He has openly called for an end to Fannie and Freddie’s low-income loan programs, which extend credit to Americans who might otherwise struggle to obtain a mortgage. Eliminating these critical programs would disproportionately harm Americans of color and widen racial and economic inequality in the United States.
“At his confirmation hearing, Calabria offered no plans for addressing persistent discrimination in the provision of subsidies for homebuying and reiterated his desire to end the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which would disproportionately harm Black Americans. His answers only heightened our fears about how destructive his tenure would be for communities who’ve historically been victimized in the housing market. We urge the Senate to ensure that the next director of the FHFA understands the importance of its programs for homeownership in communities of color.”
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
