MBA Addresses Concerns Over FHA

Debra W. Still, CMB, Chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), has issued the following statement addressing concerns about the potential that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will exhaust its commitment authority for multifamily and healthcare programs: “Recently, the FHA notified Congress that it is on pace to exhaust its commitment authority for multifamily and healthcare program loans for fiscal year 2013 and will require additional authority to insure these loans. Failure to provide the additional commitment authority has the potential to cause significant disruptions to financing for apartments and healthcare facilities throughout the country. “MBA is calling on Congress, as it considers its continuing resolutions to fund government programs for the remainder of fiscal year 2013, to add a provision granting FHA an additional $5 billion in commitment authority for multifamily and healthcare loans. “The additional commitment authority is critical at a time when rental housing is playing a historically larger role in the overall housing market and the number of Americans in rental housing is at the highest level in decades. Not funding these programs would disrupt financing for rental housing and healthcare properties. Congress should take this into consideration and add $5 billion in FHA multifamily and healthcare commitment authority, a provision that requires no direct appropriation of funds.”