Efforts to shore up its workforce face challenges ranging from a high number of retirement-eligible employees to budget uncertainties and competition for talent from both industry and other housing agencies.
The Biden administration and Congress need to address some major risks to the housing-finance system, according to the Government Accountability Office. The administration is still developing plans and there’s little urgency in Congress.
Federal regulators provided status updates on several current and pending mortgage-related rulemaking initiatives. But revisions to the qualified-mortgage standards were missing from the CFPB’s agenda.
A full Senate vote on Julia Gordon’s nomination as FHA commissioner could slip into 2022, while the Senate Banking Committee could vote on Alanna McCargo’s nomination as Ginnie Mae president this week.
FHA must do more to ensure its lenders approve only loans for borrowers who meet the program’s statutory, regulatory and eligibility requirements, the HUD’s internal auditor said.
The FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund ended fiscal 2021 with a capital ratio of 8.03%, more than four times its statutory minimum. As anticipated, the industry wants FHA to follow up with premium cuts.
If capital and liquidity requirements for nonbank servicers are too stringent, firms could leave the business and borrowers’ costs for mortgages could increase.
The Downpayment Toward Equity Act, sponsored by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-GA, would grant up to $25,000 in assistance to first-generation homebuyers. Its fate, though, depends on the final size of the Build Back Better Act.
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