U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday the future of Fannie Mae (FRE) and Freddie Mac (FRE) should be addressed in the near future to provide more stability to the financial system and housing market.

"I think the (government-sponsored enterprises) do need to be addressed in the near term, not just for systemic risk reasons but because we have a lot of uncertainty about housing and what's going to happen to the...housing finance system," he told the House Financial Services committee.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were put into government conservatorship last fall as the mortgage market meltdown threatened their viability, and the Obama administration plans to unveil a plan to deal with them when it releases the 2011 budget in February.

-By Tom Barkley and Maya Jackson Randall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9275; tom.barkley@dowjones.com