The Housing Financing Fund has divided its activities into two segments. An institution which is responsible for the administration and implementation of housing affairs and the HFF fund which manages the financial administration of the Fund's previous loan portfolio.
Today the Housing Financing Fund's Board of Directors approved changes to the HFF´s organizational chart. The objective of the organizational changes is to better reflect the new role of the agency as an authority in the field of housing affairs, which Althing created by amendments to the Housing Act no. 44/1998 last spring.
HFF's activities are divided into two different segments following the change. On the one hand, an institution which acts as a government authority in the field of housing affairs and is responsible for the implementation of Act no. 44/1998, on Housing Affairs. On the other hand, and HFF fund that handles all financial management related to the Fund's previous activities from the time it was primarily a credit institution. It is expected that the agency will soon take up a new name in accordance with its changed role in law.
The Housing Financing Fund (HFF) is today responsible for following up on a number of laws that have been introduced in the housing market in recent years and the involvement of the governments sector in it. Among other things, this includes the implementation of the Housing Benefits Act, the implementation of the General Housing Act, as well as the implementation of the Housing Act, which provides, among other things, for lending on a social basis to promote equality and security in the housing affairs of the population. The Fund is also responsible for the implementation of the housing plans in co-operation with all the municipalities in Iceland. In addition, the agency carries out policy formulation and a variety of data gathering and analysis in the field of housing affairs, runs an analytical department that, among other things, publishes a monthly report on the housing market. The fund also carries out numerous analytical tasks, such as on public housing support, the housing market, the rental market, housing problems by regions and social groups, efficiency in residential construction and many more.
The division of operations into two segments takes note of the recommendations of the working group that the government appointed to study ways to reduce the Treasury's risk due to large-scale prepayments of loans at the Housing Financing Fund after its general lending operations have ceased for several years, and banks and pension funds have taken on that role. With accounting separation of the operations of the segments, in which the financial administration is specifically separated, a better overview is obtained for the government on the scope of the administration. In accordance with the recommendations of the above-mentioned working group, the board of the Housing Financing Fund has agreed to set up a consultation committee for the administration of the funds. The Consultation Committee consist of representatives of the Fund, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Iceland. In this way, it will be best ensured that the risk management and activities of the Fund's previous operations will be successful as the government has more resources to reduce its risk due to its obligations and portfolio.
Hermann Jónasson, CEO of the Housing Financing Fund: “Changes in the HFF's legal environment have led to a changes in the activities of the HFF and, therefore, it is extremely important that its organizational structure reflects the changed role and new tasks. Today, the HFF´s primary focus is on housing administration and there are many challenging projects that require a changed organization.”