FHA Expands Multifamily Housing Credit Loan Program

On September 18, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Marie Head announced plans to expand both the geographic scope and the lending industry’s participation in the FHA Multifamily Housing Credit Pilot Program. Earlier this year, HUD unveiled the first phase of the program to test an accelerated FHA insurance approval process for Housing Credit development loans under the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Section 223(f) program. HUD launched the pilot in response to a provision in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) requiring FHA to streamline mortgage insurance applications for developments financed with Housing Credit equity.

The initial phase of the pilot was launched through HUD’s multifamily offices, or hubs, in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. The program is now being expanded to include five additional hubs: Atlanta, Denver, Fort Worth, San Francisco and Seattle. According to the announcement, “the geographic reach of the Pilot Program will now include the entire country, so that projects from all states will be eligible. Projects that are not located in the jurisdictions of the nine Pilot Processing Offices listed above will be assigned at Headquarters to one of the Pilot Processing Offices for underwriting.”

The announcement identifies the designated underwriters in each of the new locations and encourages lenders to make early contact with staff in jurisdictions where they expect to be active.