MassHousing Executive Director Thomas R. Gleason has been selected to serve on Fannie Mae’s inaugural Affordable Housing Advisory Council, which will advise Fannie Mae on how it can best support the creation of affordable housing.

Gleason, who has a 32-year career in affordable housing finance, was one of 15 industry experts named to the advisory council who were drawn from for-profit and non-profit organizations, single-family and multi-family lenders, public entities, housing advocates and foundations, according to Fannie Mae.

Council members will serve two-year terms, with approximately half of the membership rotating off each year. The advisory council is expected to meet twice this year with the first meeting scheduled next month.

"Fannie Mae has a long tradition of innovative partnership with MassHousing and the nation’s other housing finance agencies in providing a strong source of capital to finance affordable housing, particularly when the market needs that capital,” said Gleason. "I am looking forward to serving on the Affordable Housing Advisory Council and help continue the innovative partnership that Fannie Mae has forged with HFAs, which has resulted in thousands of homebuyers receiving safe, affordable fixed-rate mortgages that not only allowed them to buy homes, but to keep them in their homes.”

Gleason was selected by the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) to testify before the House Committee on Financial Services last month, where he advocated for reform of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other government sponsored entities, and urged Congress to make sure future GSEs commit themselves to supporting affordable housing.