Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chair Tim Johnson (D-SD) announced that he and Ranking Member Michael Crapo (R-ID) have set a goal to pass meaningful housing reform legislation by the end of 2013. Chair Johnson made the comments at a September 12 hearing of the committee, the first of four planned hearings to address housing finance reform.NLIHC is advocating to make sure that the legislation continues to require support of the NHTF by whatever entity replaces Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that the amount of funding to the NHTF is maximized.For this hearing, Chair Johnson and Ranking Member Crapo invited testimony from a mortgage lender, an economist, a representative of a coalition of finance professionals, and a leading housing policy expert. The witnesses’ specific opinions varied, but the consensus was clear. Critical to resolving the nation’s lending crisis is creating a secondary lending market that includes private capital and a government guarantee for creditworthy borrowers. The witnesses also agreed that any housing reform legislation should address both single family lending and multifamily lending.Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) suggested that any committee-approved legislation include language from S. 1217, the GSE reform bill they introduced in June, which eight committee members have co-sponsored. H.R. 1217 includes the NHTF, but does not provide an appropriate level of funding for it.The witnesses agreed that S. 1217 is beneficial to the mortgage market, but that much work remains to be done to address the full extent of the current mortgage lending problems. They believed that any new legislation should reduce the Government Sponsored Enterprises’ capitalization requirement from 10% to 5%; strike a balance to require mortgage lenders to make smart underwriting decisions for government-backed loans yet not overregulate so that credit-worthy borrowers are not forced out of the market; and ensure that institutions providing private capital for mortgage lending are not the same ones making the loans.Julia Gordon, director of housing finance and policy at the Center for American Progress, reminded committee members that the National Housing Trust Fund has not received any funding, despite its authorization in 2008, the same year that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken into conservatorship.The Committee’s next hearing on housing finance reform has not yet been announced, but it is expected to be held this month.View an archived webcast of the hearing: http://1.usa.gov/181N0MN