As the Federal Housing Finance Agency is moving ahead with plans to see Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac scale back their involvement in financing apartment-building loans, the agency is getting pushback from affordable housing advocates who see a market dependent heavily on the GSEs' support:

Developers, lenders and affordable-housing advocates are pushing back, saying the move could deprive rural areas and smaller cities such as Boise, Idaho, and Topeka, Kansas, of rental housing that private investors may neglect. Dozens responded to a recent FHFA request for suggestions with the same message: Don’t do it at all.