HUD SECRETARY URGES SWIFT PASSAGE OF FHA REFORM IN SENATE
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson today said legislation overwhelmingly approved by a Senate panel this morning to modernize HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will go a long way toward achieving the Administration’s goal of better serving low- and moderate-income, minority and first-time homebuyers.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives widely approved H.R. 1852, The Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007, which Jackson said would “serve as a starting point to bring good news to families who need a safe, fair and affordable FHA alternative to the exotic subprime market.”
In a follow-up letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee today, Jackson said the FHA modernization legislation that was marked up by this Committee today includes several “beneficial provisions” including reasonably adjusting FHA’s loan limits, eliminating the cap on the number of reverse mortgages FHA can insure, and simplifying the downpayment requirement.
“The primary mission of FHA is to reach borrowers who either are not being served or are being underserved, and to help them achieve the American Dream of homeownership. Like the Administration’s proposal, the bipartisan Dodd-Martinez bill would more effectively reach these borrowers by reasonably adjusting the loan limits for the single family mortgage insurance program to account for high-cost housing markets and increased construction costs,” Jackson said in his letter to Senators Dodd and Richard Shelby.
