WASHINGTON — Industry observers think that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, now in conservatorship, could be reconstituted in one of several different forms. But they admit that the current, ever changing financial crises and the upcoming elections have put reorganization–in other times a huge consideration–on the back burner.

Some say the question of the future form of Freddie and Fannie revolves around three basic models: whether they should continue as government-sponsored enterprises or become private-sector companies or morph into some form in between. The third model would treat them as utilities, meaning that they will still have stockholders but would be limited in terms of how much money they could make.

Alex Pollock, a resident fellow at conservative think-tank American Enterprise Institute, has suggested a fourth model. Pollock said he favors breaking them into two pieces and turning the part of Freddie and Fannie that deals with affordable lending into a government agency–kind of a second Federal Housing Authority–while the part of the enterprise that brings liquidity to the secondary market could be privatized.