HUD Nails Florida Company with Discrimination Charge. The Department of Housing and Urban Development charged a Florida company and its owners with housing discrimination for intentionally targeting Hispanic homeowners in a predatory mortgage modification scheme that increased, rather than decreased, their risk of foreclosure. HUD filed charges of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act against Advocate Law Groups of Florida and owners Jon B. Lindeman, Jr., and Ephigenia Lindeman. The defendants allegedly ran a deceptive advertising campaign for loan modification that aired on Spanish-language radio and television throughout Florida. Homeowners were offered $500 gift cards as an enticement to sign for a loan modification. Ginnie Mae MBS Outstanding Increases. Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities issuance totaled $38.9 billion in August, raising its ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service is considering extending two manufactured-housing pilot programs implemented in a number of states under the USDA Section 502 single-family housing guaranteed loan program. The planned expansion would provide a more balanced regional representation that would help RHS measure the pilots’ impact. Launched in August 2016, the first pilot involves financing of existing manufactured homes. The second pilot involves ownership requirements for new energy-efficient manufactured and modular houses in land-lease communities operating on a nonprofit basis. State requests to join one or both pilots are submitted to the USDA state director of rural development. The deputy administrator of single-family housing decides on the request. Decisions would be based on the date the request was received and whether the ...