In September of 2008, the GSEs (Government-Sponsored Enterprise) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) oversees the companies, which were merged into a government conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency until they were deemed stabilized. In addition to the conservatorship, other measures were taken to preserve the institutions. The Treasury purchased $200 billion in stock from government sponsored enterprises on the open market. Part of the agreement included an immediate receipt of $1 billion in senior preferred stock from each GSE and warrants to purchase 79.9% of each GSEs' common stock. In total, it is estimated that the government will purchase $50 billion from Freddie Mac and $16 billion from Fannie Mae. Recently, Freddie Mac announced that Charles E. Haldeman Jr., former President and CEO of Putnam Investments would be taking over the company.

In a report in January 2010, the CBO stated that "although it anticipates the mortgage market to eventually normalize, [we] expect the federal government to continue subsidizing that market through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac..." The CBO also stated that although fees and other income may be sufficient to cover average losses over the coming years, their income will not be enough to offset the full cost of risks associated with mortgage products.