In an Agency ceremony, Dr. Mark A. Calabria was sworn in today to a five-year term as the second Senate-confirmed Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Dr. Calabria was appointed to head the Agency by President Donald J. Trump. FHFA was created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System and is responsible for oversight of the $6.3 trillion mortgage finance market.
“I enter this office with a sense of urgency. The foundations of our mortgage finance system remain vulnerable, and we must not let this opportunity for reform pass,” said Dr. Calabria.
Dr. Calabria served as Chief Economist to Vice President Pence since February 2017. Prior to his work in the White House, Dr. Calabria was Director of Financial Regulation Studies at the Cato Institute. He also spent six years as a senior aide to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where he handled issues related to housing, mortgage finance, economics, banking and insurance. Prior to his work on Capitol Hill, Dr. Calabria served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Dr. Calabria has also held a variety of positions at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors. Dr. Calabria has also been a research associate with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Center for Economic Studies. He holds a doctorate in economics from George Mason University.