Freddie Mac Multifamily works with our lenders, sponsors and syndicators to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the market, including by creating, preserving and rehabilitating rental housing.

In recent years, we have been focused on the supply side of the market, helping create and renovate tens of thousands of housing units that contribute to addressing the nationwide shortage of millions of affordable and available rental homes.

As part of our efforts to close this gap, here are three successful strategies Freddie Mac Multifamily is using to increase the affordable housing supply and serve the needs of the market.

Doubling Down on Our Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Equity Program

Through our Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) equity program, Freddie Mac invests in the creation and rehabilitation of affordable housing units for low-income families and individuals. In 2025, U.S. Federal Housing doubled our annual LIHTC equity cap from $1 billion to $2 billion, which will help us create and preserve more affordable rental housing units nationwide.

Our LIHTC equity investments enable us to strengthen communities by addressing housing needs. These projects can take many forms, whether building new housing on the site of a dilapidated shopping center in Northern Virginia or preserving an apartment complex for low-income seniors in rural Colorado. But the impact of this work is significant. Since 2018, we’ve committed more than $5 billion in LIHTC equity funding, ensuring more than 33,000 units of affordable housing were created or preserved. These investments allowed us to achieve our LIHTC equity Duty to Serve targets.

Finding Targeted Ways to Preserve, Rehabilitate and Create Affordable Housing

Freddie Mac offers several products through our Targeted Affordable Housing program, including those that preserve and rehabilitate existing multifamily properties and support the creation of new units. No matter the product, our targeted affordable housing loans support households earning low- and very-low incomes and help extend the life of affordable housing for families and individuals.

Last year, our targeted affordable housing volume hit a record high, as we provided $17 billion in financing to support nearly 131,000 rent-restricted affordable units. We supported the creation of affordable units for more than 23,000 families, the rehabilitation of units for more than 10,000 and preserved affordability without subsidy through Freddie Mac loan terms for nearly 11,000 families.

Earlier this year, we finalized a Preservation Rehabilitation Tax-Exempt loan that will go toward preserving and rehabilitating an affordable 122-unit apartment complex for low-income senior residents in downtown Asheville, North Carolina. The complex, Battery Park Seniors Apartments, is designed to improve the quality of life for senior residents and provides a needed affordable housing option.

Helping Developers Find Financing Certainty

Our forward commitment program is designed to increase the supply of affordable rental housing through an innovative financing structure. Forward commitments are agreements to purchase loans at a later date while locking in certain financing terms in advance. This certainty allows new development or major renovations to advance and increase the supply of affordable rental housing.

Last year, forward commitments drove the creation of more than 23,000 units of new affordable and workforce housing and the program continues to accomplish its goals. Recently, we worked with two partners to break ground on a 279-unit affordable housing complex that was once an underused parking lot in high-cost Fairfax County, Virginia. This is far from our only success story, and looking ahead, we’ll continue to look for opportunities to support much needed, high-quality housing supply.

Finding high-quality, affordable housing can be a challenge for renters and families across the country. Through the programs mentioned above and others, Freddie Mac Multifamily is working to address the affordable rental housing supply gap by creating and preserving more affordable units. But this work is far from finished. Through continued partnerships and support, we look forward to helping more families and individuals find an affordable place to call home.

©2025 by Freddie Mac.