Federal hiring freeze could impact the rollout of HMBS 2.0, former Ginnie Mae head says

By BrokerOwner.net January 28, 2025 Housing News

While
the
timing
is
difficult
to
predict
at
this
point
with
acting
leadership
in
place
at
key
agencies,
having
the
personnel
on
hand
to
execute
is
likely
the
biggest
challenge
facing
the
complementary
securities
program,
Tozer
explained.

“They’ve
had
some
really
critical
retirements,”
Tozer
said
in
an
interview
with

HousingWire’s
Reverse
Mortgage
Daily
(RMD).
“People
like
Leslie
Meaux
[Pordzik],
who
was
in
charge
of
oversight
of
all
the
issuers
and
contacting
all
the
account
executives,
and
all
the
issues
around
the
daily
operation
of
dealing
with
doc
custodians.”

Pordzik

retired
from
Ginnie
Mae
last
month,
marking
the
end
of
a
36-year
career
in
the
mortgage
finance
industry.
But
she’s
not
the
only
one
who’s
getting
ready
to
retire.
Other
key
officials
either
already
have
or
will
soon
retire,
including
a
staffer
who
helped
run
Ginnie
Mae’s
securitization
platform.
They
have
yet
to
be
replaced
despite
retiring
about
a
year
ago.

“The
problem
that
I
see
right
now
—
and
I
think
it’s
going
to
get
worse
—
is
Ginnie
Mae’s
inability
to
replace
key
people
that
I
was
able
to
hire
when
I
was
there
10
years
ago,”
Tozer
said.
He
attributed
some
of
his
ability
to
hire
“really
good
people”
at
that
time
to
budget
reductions
at

Fannie
Mae
and

Freddie
Mac
due
to
their
federal
conservatorship
status,
which
allowed
Tozer
to
recruit
them
at
Ginnie
Mae.

“The
problem
now
is
that
Ginnie
can’t
really
pay
very
well,”
Tozer
said,
adding
that
the
company’s
pay
scale
is
lower
than
at
agencies
such
as
the

Federal
Housing
Finance
Agency
(FHFA)
or
the

Federal
Deposit
Insurance
Corp.
(FDIC).
This,
he
says,
could
create
problems
in
recruiting
for
positions
that
are
important
to
policy
implementation
efforts,
including
HMBS
2.0.

“I
think
that’s
going
to
make
getting
things
done
at
Ginnie
Mae
tougher,
unless
[the
company]
can
actually
pay
more
to
be
able
to
truly
get
more
market-level
people,”
he
said.

As
far
as
HMBS
2.0
itself
is
concerned,
Tozer
said
he
has
heard
rumblings
that
the
policy
is
harder
to
implement
than
originally
anticipated.
He
took
that
to
mean
the
actual
work
that
will
go
into
operationalizing
the
program.

He
had
hoped
that
decision-makers
at
the
company
would
have
taken
a
closer
look
at

his
own
proposal
that
was
published
by
the

Urban
Institute
in
late
2023.

“[HMBS
issuers
could]
use
Ginnie
Mae–guaranteed
commercial
paper
to
fund
the
Ginnie
Mae–required
buyouts
of
loans
that
have
hit
their
98
percent
maximum
claim
amount
or
have
become
inactive,”
Tozer
wrote
of
his
proposal
at
the
time.

Ginnie
Mae

announced
work
on
what
would
become
HMBS
2.0
last
January
under
then-president
Alanna
McCargo.
But
McCargo

resigned
from
the
company
and

took
another
position
with
the

Federal
Home
Loan
Bank
of
San
Francisco.
The
work
on
HMBS
2.0
was
assumed
by
Sam
Valverde,
who
was
appointed
as
Ginnie
Mae’s
acting
president.
And
following
the
2024
election,

Valverde
resigned
from
Ginnie
Mae
at
the
end
of
November.

Trump
has
not
yet
named
a
nominee
to
succeed
McCargo
as
a
permanent
Ginnie
Mae
president,
and
he
didn’t
manage
to
confirm
a
Ginnie
Mae
president
in
his
first
term
in
the

White
House.
Organizations
such
as
the

Mortgage
Bankers
Association
(MBA)
and
the

National
Reverse
Mortgage
Lenders
Association
(NRMLA)
have
called
on
the

Senate
to

swiftly
confirm
Scott
Turner,
Trump’s
choice
to
lead
the

U.S.
Department
of
Housing
and
Urban
Development
(HUD)
in
the
new
term.