Fannie Mae Laying Off Hundreds

Fannie Mae, the District mortgage giant taken over by the federal government last year, is laying off several hundred employees locally as it reorients itself to focusing on preventing home foreclosures.

Starting today, the layoffs will be concentrated among employees working in technology, administration, communications and the company's single-family unit, which works to buy and bundle mortgages from lenders.

Fannie plans to hire a similar number of people in the Dallas area, where the company bases its anti-foreclosure unit.

In recent months, Fannie, once a high-flying finance firm, largely has transformed itself into an organization focused on preventing foreclosures. It has announced a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures through the end of the month and a new program to modify thousands of delinquent home loans.

It is continuing to securitize mortgages, but its capacity to buy mortgage-related securities has largely been curbed. Various government agencies have become the main source of financing for home loans in recent months.

"Fannie Mae is taking steps to realign the company's organization, personnel and resources to focus on our most critical priorities, which include preventing foreclosures to help keep people in their homes and aiding in the recovery," said Brian Faith, a company spokesman, in a statement.

"As part of this effort, the company is planning to increase staffing levels in some areas, such as in our Dallas operations where our foreclosure prevention and loss mitigation efforts are centralized, and reduce staffing levels in others to fully meet the company's primary objectives."

Overall, Faith said the total number of Fannie employees should remain the same in 2009 as in 2008, at just over 5,500.

Until being taken over by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in September, Fannie and its sibling in McLean, Freddie Mac, were landmarks of the Washington business scene. Many people went to work there for decades, lured by a job related to housing and a steady income in the private sector.