The Manhattan Institute is honored to host Dr. Mark Calabria, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), for an evening conversation with Manhattan Institute senior fellow Howard Husock on housing finance reform and the future of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The discussion will focus on whether, and the extent to which, Fannie and Freddie continue to pose the same major financial risk that was evident in the 2008 financial crisis, as well as how we can mitigate that risk without disrupting the secondary mortgage market. More broadly, we will also examine the proper role for GSEs in explicitly financing income-restricted “affordable housing.”

Since being sworn in as director of FHFA in April 2019, Director Calabria has pursued an ambitious agenda of building a stronger and more resilient mortgage finance system. Before joining FHFA, Dr. Calabria served as chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence, handling all economic policy issues, with a focus on taxes, trade, manufacturing, financial services, labor, and housing.

As a senior aide to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Dr. Calabria drafted significant portions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which created a new regulatory framework for the housing-related government-sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.) Immediately prior to his service with Vice President Pence, Dr. Calabria spent eight years as director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute, where he helped to establish Cato’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives.

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