Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be abolished but this has to be done over a period of time, Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee, told CNBC on Tuesday.
Frank agreed that phasing out the housing behemoths would help bolster private mortgage financing, but stressed that the process would take time.
"They (the private mortgage sector) are the ones who tell me if you abolish Fannie and Freddie tomorrow and don't put a new set of structures in place... that would be a disaster." said Frank.
"Bad economic time is not the best time to get private capital into the housing market," he added.