similarly, the fhfa has another statutory mandate and this one action will help improve the availability and affordability of rental housing 7.1 million american households for whom safe and decent housing is neither affordable or available. a situation made worse due to republican attacks on public housing and voucher programs and there is a tiny percentage of the fannie mae and freddie mac profit was and improving the lives of millions of american children, families, people with disabilities and the elderly. i also talk about homeownership behind all americans who are qualified borrowers are not fortunate to come from wealthy families. when the fhfa lower the down payment requirements, it balanced safeguard to protect attacks went expanding credit. i encourage them to think outside of the box when it comes to credit scores to ensure that all credit worthy and vigils have a chance at the american dream so i thank you, director, and again we welcome your testimony today and i yield back the balance of my time. >> the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new jersey the chair of the cap

fannie and freddie, controlled by the government, controlled by my former colleague who heads up the fhfa, and we are famous for acronyms in washington -- they just lowered the down payment requirement to 3%. we have years of statistical history that shows the default rate will be greater. we need to give every american an opportunity to buy a home they can actually afford to keep. so the answer to your question , is housing finance reform, a sustainable housing finance system, one that gives us all the boom bust bailout cycle, that is a huge priority. >> before you go on to your next one. a question about housing finance. >> you had a bill that would wind down all government support for the housing -- >> that's not true. the federal housing administration was still around. >> outside of the fha. >> it has a pretty big footprint in the market, but go ahead. >> wind down fannie and freddie and not replace them with a government backstop. >> that is true. >> the senate had a bipartisan bill that would replace fannie and freddie with a government backstop. do you think this year you would be

this is something that fhfa is working on. it's something that the fha is working on. to try and create the business certainty that is good for fannie and freddie that is good for fha, is sensible, also good for the lending community and is good fundamentally for the american consumer. and so the biggest challenges, i would say are this issue of access to credit and affordability. both of those are challenges we're prepared to meet head on with sensible policies that are prudent, but have the effect of expanding opportunity. >> you're generating a lot of questions, mr. secretary. are there any steps you have not taken yet in your first five months on the job that you would like to take to increase homeownership? >> well we're -- you know, we're taking a number of steps at fha. last may we announced the blueprint for access to credit. we are looking at ways that we can make that morrow bust in the future. those are not fully cooked right now. they're still being worked on. and so i'll reserve for a later date if we do expand that blueprint for credit. but homeownership

and i know that director watt is doing fantastic work at fhfa and they are very much part of this conversation, but i believe that we can accomplish this balance between getting the taxpayers off the hook getting good sensible housing finance reform, and also creating more opportunity for homeownership. the fact is right now congress has just begun its work in earnest and i have not seen anything that's been put out there yet, so nothing is swimming through the process that i know of. we'll address it as it comes along. >> redlining is racism in the housing market. is redlining more prevalent than it was 10 years ago, and do you have any plans to crack down on this practice? >> the department is committed to ensuring that everyone in the united states has an opportunity to have a good quality of life and where they live and opportunity for homeownership. and we have a robust fheoo a federal housing equal opportunity office, that is committed to enforcement as well, to ensure that no matter the color of somebody's skin, or if they have a disability, their religion, national origin, they are abl