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ABOUT THE PLAN

Freddie Mac’s Equitable Housing Finance Plan includes an 

ambitious set of initiatives designed to help advance equity, 

affordability and sustainability for families in traditionally 

underserved communities. The 2023 Equitable Housing 

Finance Plan builds on the work the company started over the 

course of last year to create opportunities for all families to 

access quality affordable housing.

SUMMARY OF FREDDIE MAC’S 2023 PLAN 

AND SELECT 2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Freddie Mac has purchased loans through lender SPCPs and 

has also developed its own SPCP, BorrowSmart AccessSM, 

which helps borrowers overcome one of the largest barriers 

to homeownership: down payment assistance. BorrowSmart 

Access also provides financial education to Black and Latino 

first-time homebuyers. The program is available for first-time 

homebuyers across 10 major cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, 

1. Purchasing Mortgages Through Special 

 Purpose Credit Programs (SPCPs)

2. Helping Renters Build Credit and Improving 

 Fairness in Underwriting

More than 184,000 renter households have enrolled in 

Freddie Mac’s credit building initiative, with more than 27,000 

participants establish credit scores for the first time. In 2023, 

the company will expand this initiative to additional credit 

reporting vendors, with a goal of making on-time rent reporting 

an industry standard.

Freddie Mac has also taken steps to expand access to credit 

for historically underserved borrowers by using alternative 

credit data — including rent payment history — as part of 

the company’s loan purchase decisions. The company will 

continue this work in 2023, making meaningful enhancements 

to its automated underwriting system to help identify more 

creditworthy borrowers. To do so, the company will leverage 

detailed credit attributes, including trended data to replace 

third-party credit scores. These updates should result in 

approximately 17,000 additional Black and Latino borrowers 

accepted per year, relative to the previous LPA production 

model.

Freddie Mac’s Fact Sheet: 

Equitable Housing Finance Plan

Memphis, Miami, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, El Paso and 

McAllen.

In 2023, the company will continue to help provide down 

payment assistance (DPA) to borrowers by making DPA OneSM, 

the company’s digital DPA platform, broadly available. DPA 

One leverages local housing finance agencies’ DPA programs 

and seamlessly matches potential homebuyers with loan officers 

and housing counseling agencies in underserved communities. 

DPA One includes 395 DPA programs from 227 DPA providers 

covering 49 states, plus the District of Columbia.

In 2022, Freddie Mac took a number of steps to help address 

the shortage of both Single- and Multifamily housing. In 

Single-Family, the company enhanced its policies to help 

increase the availability of accessory dwelling units. It also 

3. Supporting the Creation, Preservation, and 

 Rehabilitation of Affordable and Workforce 

 Housing
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With a focus on increasing diversity across the housing 

finance industry, in 2022, Freddie Mac launched a targeted 

correspondent lending program to help small community 

lenders access financing, including minority depository 

institutions and Community Development Financial Institutions 

(CDFIs). The Plan calls for all Freddie Mac multifamily lenders to 

pursue an agreement with at least one correspondent in 2023. 

The company also rolled out Develop the DeveloperSM, a singleand multifamily program designed to increase the number 

of minority-owned businesses in underserved areas. To date, 

Freddie Mac has trained more than 70 developers, and will 

expand the program to additional markets and enroll more 

developers in the coming year. 

Freddie Mac also continues its support for diverse-owned 

capital markets firms, which have acquired credit protection of 

approximately $833 million on more than $50 billion in unpaid 

principal balance of mortgage loans.

4. Increasing Opportunities for Diverse, 

 Emerging Lenders and Market Participants

5. Promoting Financial Empowerment Through 

 Targeted Outreach and Education

In 2023, the Freddie Mac Single-Family Mission and 

Community team expects to take part in 350 events, training 

over 30,000 industry professionals on resources to expand 

housing opportunities, particularly for diverse homebuyers. Last 

year, similar efforts resulted in over 300,000 consumers reached 

through education and counseling, with 79% self-identifying 

as people of color. Freddie Mac will continue to engage with 

borrower help centers and renter resource organizations to 

provide housing assistance, financial counseling and legal 

aid, including training for more than 350,000 consumers. 

These efforts will focus on people of color, through in-person 

workshops and interactive one-on-one coaching.

In the coming year, Freddie Mac’s consumer outreach will 

also include a new CreditSmart Essentials Spanish language 

curriculum as part of its free online financial literacy resource. 

Freddie Mac HomeCoach will also be available to client 

management system providers this year so more housing 

counselors can quickly deliver a mortgage-readiness evaluation 

and better prepare borrowers for homeownership. Additional 

2023 efforts will focus on expanding “The Building Blocks to 

Wealth,” the company’s wealth building series and extending 

the Block-by-Block initiative to Baltimore and Chicago. The 

company will also conduct outreach to more Historically Black 

Colleges and Universities beyond the 20 already being served.

IMPLEMENTATION 

While we have made important progress, we know there 

is much more to do. Through our 2023 Equitable Housing 

Finance Plan actions, we seek to build upon the work we 

started last year to give families in all communities the 

chance to have a quality, affordable and sustainable place to 

call “home.”

Read Freddie Mac’s Plan and learn more about the 

company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

expanded loan purchases from housing finance agencies to 

include manufactured homes and 2–4-unit properties. Further, 

the company enhanced its community land trust mortgage 

offerings, which helps preserve long-term affordable housing. 

Also in 2022, Freddie Mac further expanded its use of 

multifamily forward commitments, which provide permanent 

financing for new construction or substantial rehabilitation of 

a multifamily property. In 2022, the company committed to 

funding more than 20,000 units through forward commitments, 

exceeding the year one goal of 15,000 units. In years two and 

three of the Plan, Freddie Mac has committed to funding an 

additional 60,000 units through forward commitments. 

Freddie Mac has also committed to preserving rents through 

Freddie Mac loan documents or suitable equivalents. In 2022, 

the company exceeded its 1,000-unit goal for preservation with 

more than 4,200 units. In years two and three of the Plan, the 

company has committed to preserving rents for an additional 

8,000 units. 

To help maintain the existing affordable housing stock, 

Freddie Mac is using its multifamily loan offerings to support 

the rehabilitation of affordable and workforce rental housing. 

The company more than doubled its 2022 goal of 5,000 

rehabilitated units and has committed to funding an additional 

10,000 units of rehabilitated housing in year two and another 

20,000 units in year three of the Plan.