NCSHA Blogs
Biden – Harris Administration Announces Reduction in Annual Insurance Premium for FHA Home Buyers
The Biden – Harris Administration yesterday announced that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) would lower annual mortgage insurance premiums for Federal Housing Administration-insured home purchase loans. FHA explained the changes in further detail in a mortgagee letter released yesterday morning.
White House Announces Actions to Protect Renters and Promote Rental Affordability
Earlier today the White House released a fact sheet on the Biden – Harris Administration’s actions to protect renters and promote rental affordability. The actions fall into two major areas. The first is a Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights that will guide a number of federal agency actions to identify practices that unfairly treat tenants in and applicants for rental housing, including the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development.
HUD Issues Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Proposed Rule
Yesterday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development published the much-anticipated Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) proposed rule, which would implement the statutory obligation HUD and its program participants have to affirmatively further fair housing, as required by the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The proposed rule is intended to build and improve upon HUD’s 2015 AFFH final rule adopted under the Obama Administration.
House Republicans Announce New Members for Committees with Jurisdiction Over Affordable Housing Issues
With the House speakership now settled, House Republicans have begun announcing the new members who will join various committees in the 118th Congress, including the Appropriations, Financial...
HOME Coalition Seeks Robust Funding for FY23
On behalf of the HOME Coalition, today NCSHA contacted appropriators in both congressional chambers to urge them to provide robust funding for the HOME Investment Partnerships program for the remainder of FY23. The letter expresses support for $2.5 billion for HOME but acknowledges appropriators are unlikely to be able to achieve that level and urges no less than $1.9 billion for the program, which is the amount requested in the President’s Budget Request for FY23. Under the continuing resolution, HOME is currently funded at FY22 levels, or $1.5 billion.
54 Members of Congress Urge House Leadership to Expand Housing Credit Production This Year
This morning, a bipartisan coalition of members of the House of Representatives led by Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act sponsors Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) sent a letter...
More Than 2,500 Groups Sign ACTION Letter Pressing for Action on Housing Credit Priorities in Lame Duck Session
Today, more than 2,500 organizations and businesses from every state in the nation joined a letter spearheaded by the ACTION Campaign urging Congress to expand the reach of the Housing Credit during the final weeks of the calendar year.
FHA Annual Report Touts Agency’s Covid-19 Loss Mitigation Activities, Lending to Disadvantaged Communities
The Federal Housing Administration earlier today released its 2022 Annual Report to Congress. The report finds FHA continued to play a critical role in supporting home financing for first-time home buyers and other underserved borrowers in fiscal year 2022. Also outlined are FHA’s efforts to help homeowners impacted by Covid-19 and the improving status of FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.
FHFA Approves New Credit Score Models for GSE Loans
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced earlier this week that it had officially approved the use of two new credit scoring models by the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: the FICO10T model and the VantageScore 4.0 model.
FHFA Announces Elimination of GSE Upfront Fees for HFA Loans, Other Affordable Mortgages
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that government sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will soon eliminate upfront fees for single-family mortgage loans assisting low- and moderate-income home buyers, including Fannie Mae HFA Preferred and Freddie Mac HFA Advantage loans. The GSEs will increase fees for most cash-out refinance loans.
