Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Sandra Thompson will leave her post on Jan. 19, a day before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, according to an agency spokesperson who spoke with Bloomberg.
Thompson first joined FHFA following a 23-year tenure at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) before becoming its deputy director in 2013. After President Joe Biden took office in 2021 — and following a U.S. Supreme Court decision granting the president the power to fire the director of the agency — Biden replaced then-incumbent FHFA director and Trump appointee Mark Calabria with Thompson on an acting basis.
In December 2021, Biden nominated Thompson for the permanent director position pending Senate confirmation, which she received in May 2022.
Thompson’s exit immediately precedes the installation of the second Trump administration. During the 2024 campaign, allies of the president-elect revived long-sought Republican policy goals of ending the federal conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). A potential first step toward that was made last week when the U.S. Treasury and the FHFA announced an agreement to amend the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Thompson has led the FHFA through a tumultuous period for the U.S. housing market. While the agency recently touted its efforts to prevent foreclosures, the actual rate of foreclosures also increased, and some of Thompson’s proposed policies during her leadership tenure received pushback from Congress — sometimes on a bipartisan basis.
The same Supreme Court decision that allowed her to take the leadership role would also have allowed Trump to fire her once he assumes office.
