The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 empowers the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish several annual housing goals for Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). One of these housing goals requires GSEs to purchase a certain portion of their mortgages from "central cities, rural areas, and other underserved areas." Central cities have been used since the legislation was enacted as a temporary proxy for all underserved areas. The obvious inadequacy of this definition --most notably its complete omission of rural areas -- has led to a renewed effort to further hone the goal in the regulatory process.

This report is part of the collection of scanned historical documents available to the public.