Tag Archives: HUD

HUD's inspector general, the Hon. Kenneth M. Donohue, is leaving his post in October to join Reznick Group, a top 20 national CPA firm headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Donohue has accepted the position of principal in the firm's government services group, where he will focus on compliance, fraud and abuse, and prevention and protection of internal controls on behalf of the firm's federal, state, and local government clients.

HUD released a new survey of New Orleans area housing conditions this week. The agency says its the most comprehensive analysis of the metro's housing stock since the department's last assessment in 2004 (prior to Hurricane Katrina). In the five years since Hurricane Katrina struck the area, the New Orleans metro lost 75,000 housing units, nearly 13 percent of its housing stock, and the median monthly cost of housing rose by nearly 33 percent from $662 in 2004 to $882 in 2009.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has failed to root out several executives with criminal records whose firms continue to do business with the agency, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The Center's investigation found that more than 34,000 home loans have been issued over the past two years by FHA-approved lenders that have employed people who were convicted of felonies, banned from the securities industry, or previously worked for firms barred by FHA. Nine percent of these loans are delinquent.

Housing conditions continued to show signs of stabilizing during the second quarter, following a downward trend that began to reverse itself in mid-2009, HUD says in a new report. The federal agency immediately follows that assessment, though, with ""the housing market's recovery remains fragile."" HUD's quarterly commentary on the state of housing in the U.S. sums up a dichotomy of positives and negatives in market indicators. For example, sales and prices of existing homes rose in Q2, but fell for new homes.

HUD awarded an additional $1 billion Wednesday to state and county governments to help communities reverse the effects of the foreclosure crisis and assist with the cleanup of vacant homes. The grants represent the third round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding - which so far amounts to a total of $7 billion - earmarked for acquiring, redeveloping, or demolishing foreclosed properties. Recipients are able to take advantage of HUD's new REO ""First Look"" program with the nation's largest mortgage lenders.

Tuesday marked the start of a new government housing program designed to help the millions of Americans who owe more on the mortgage than their home is worth. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is now offering certain non-FHA borrowers with negative equity the chance to refinance into a new FHA-insured loan, as long as existing lien holders will write off at least 10 percent of the unpaid principal balance. Officials suggest the program will provide 500,000 to 1.5 million underwater borrowers with new mortgages, but analysts say the number is closer to 250,000.

After falling for five straight months, the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) delinquency rate held steady in July at 8.3 percent. At the beginning of 2010, the rate stood at 9.4 percent. HUD also issued guidelines for FHA's new insurance premium structure, which takes effect next month. The annual premium will increase from 0.55 percent to between 0.85 percent and 0.90 percent of the loan amount. At the same time, though, the upfront premium has been reduced by 100 basis points from the current 2.25 percent.

Neighborhoods across the country are riddled with empty bank-owned homes and unoccupied foreclosures that erode neighboring property values and open the door for blight and criminal activity. The nation's glut of vacant REOs took center stage in Washington Wednesday. HUD announced a new nationwide REO ""First Look"" program, in partnership with the nation's largest mortgage lenders, and it was the first of a two-day Federal Reserve summit to examine the community impacts of foreclosed and vacant properties.

After a worse than expected falloff in home sales during the month of July, buzz about a possible revival of the federal homebuyer tax credit has begun to surface. Sales of previously owned homes plummeted 27 percent last month, hitting their lowest mark in 15 years. New home sales also took a dive, dropping nearly 13 percent. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan says the July numbers were worse than was expected and are cause for concern, and he's not ruling out a return of the tax credit incentives.

Will Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac still be here in three years? Or will they be replaced by a new federal mortgage agency? Or will the government begin a grand exodus from the housing market and leave the conveyance of the American Dream to the private sector? These were the questions addressed Tuesday at the administration's housing finance conference in Washington - a discussion that the Treasury says will help shape its proposal for the future of the housing finance system, including the structure of the nation's two largest mortgage companies.