Narrow GSEs to 30‑year purchases

Limit Fannie and Freddie to buying only 30‑year fixed‑rate mortgages for owner‑occupied home purchases, with no refinancing, second homes, or investor loans. Keep the GSEs inside government to avoid privatizing gains and socializing losses, and let all other mortgage products be fully private. — This offers a concrete blueprint to preserve the 30‑year mortgage without broad taxpayer backstops, reframing GSE reform beyond simple 'privatize or nationalize' binaries.

Sources

Land, Debt, and Crises

Arnold Kling 2025.11.29 88% relevant

Kling recounts the historical origins of the 30‑year amortizing mortgage and the GSE/S&L architecture (FHA, Fannie Mae, federally insured S&Ls) that supported it—precisely the institutional story that underpins proposals to limit government mortgage support to standard 30‑year owner‑occupied purchase loans. His narrative explains why such a constraint was created and how deviations (e.g., broadened S&L powers, securitization) produced instability.

Public Choice Links

Arnold Kling 2025.10.11 100% relevant

The author proposes restricting GSE activity to 30‑year fixed, owner‑occupied purchase loans and opposing an IPO as rent‑seeking.