Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac kill PACE

It is a travesty that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are single handedly killing one of the best programs for encouraging renewable energy and energy efficiency in the country - PACE. 

I've written to Scott Brown, John Kerry, Barney Frank, and Ed Markey to encourage legislative action to require that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac support PACE renewable energy and energy efficiency home loans. 

The Property Assessed Clean Energy programs have been one of the best programs for creating jobs and saving energy across the country. 

The NY Times reports that many homeowners who participated in a program that let them repay the cost of solar panels and other energy improvements through an annual surcharge on their property taxes must pay off the loans before they can refinance their mortgages, two government-chartered mortgage companies said Tuesday.

The guidance came from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as efforts to resolve a dispute over the program — called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE— have failed.

Approved by 22 states, the programs let municipalities sell bonds to finance improvements in energy efficiency. Homeowners typically pay back the loans over 20 years through an annual property tax assessment. As is the case with other property tax assessments, a lien is placed on the home that has priority over the mortgage if the homeowner defaults.

In July, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie and Freddie, effectively derailed the program when it issued guidance to lenders stating that the liens violated the agency's underwriting standards. Fannie and Freddie buy and sell most of the nation's home mortgages.

That guidance led to the halt of most PACE programs and left in limbo those homeowners who had already taken out energy improvement loans.

On Tuesday, Fannie and Freddie issued guidance to lenders stating that borrowers with sufficient equity in their homes must pay off the loans before refinancing. Those homeowners without enough equity to take cash out of their home to pay off the lien can refinance with the loan in place.