The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, established in part by the National Housing Act of 1934. Its primary function is to provide insurance for mortgages originated by private lenders for various types of properties, including single-family homes, multifamily rental properties, hospitals, and residential care facilities. FHA mortgage insurance serves to safeguard these private lenders from financial losses. In the event that a property owner defaults on their mortgage, FHA steps in to compensate the lender for the outstanding principal balance.
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and urban development, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet.
The Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), or Ginnie Mae, is a government-owned corporation of the United States Federal Government within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It was founded in 1968 and works to expand affordable housing by guaranteeing housing loans (mortgages) thereby lowering financing costs such as interest rates for those loans. It does that through guaranteeing to investors the on-time payment of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) even if homeowners default on the underlying mortgages and the homes are foreclosed upon.
The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal, the corporation's purpose is to expand the secondary mortgage market by securitizing mortgage loans in the form of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), allowing lenders to reinvest their assets into more lending and in effect increasing the number of lenders in the mortgage market by reducing the reliance on locally based savings and loan associations. Its brother organization is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), better known as Freddie Mac.
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is a federal program in the United States that awards tax credits to housing developers in exchange for agreeing to reserve a certain fraction of rent-restricted units for lower-income households. The program was created under the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) to incentivize the use of private equity in developing affordable housing. Projects developed with LIHTC credits must maintain a certain percentage of affordable units for a set period of time, typically 30 years, though there is a "qualified contract" process that can allow property owners to opt out after 15 years. The maximum rent that can be charged for designated affordable units is based on Area Median Income (AMI); over 50% of residents in LIHTC properties are considered Extremely Low-Income. Less than 10% of current credit expenditures are claimed by individual investors.
An FHA insured loan is a US Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance backed mortgage loan that is provided by an FHA-approved lender. FHA mortgage insurance protects lenders against losses. They have historically allowed lower-income Americans to borrow money to purchase a home that they would not otherwise be able to afford. Because this type of loan is more geared towards new house owners than real estate investors, FHA loans are different from conventional loans in the sense that the house must be owner-occupant for at least a year. Since loans with lower down-payments usually involve more risk to the lender, the home-buyer must pay a two-part mortgage insurance that involves a one-time bulk payment and a monthly payment to compensate for the increased risk. Frequently, individuals "refinance" or replace their FHA loan to remove their monthly mortgage insurance premium. Removing mortgage insurance premium by paying down the loan has become more difficult with FHA loans as of 2013.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is Canada's federal crown corporation responsible for administering the National Housing Act, with the mandate to improve housing by living conditions in the country.
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), an independent United States federal agency, is charged with the mission to promote the preservation of the nation's diverse historic resources. The ACHP advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy and also provides a public forum for stakeholders and the public to influence federal agency decisions regarding federal projects and programs that affect historic properties. The ACHP promotes the importance of historic preservation to foster an understanding of the nation's heritage and the contribution that historic preservation can make to contemporary communities, along with their economic and social well-being.
The energy policy of the United States is determined by federal, state, and local entities. It addresses issues of energy production, distribution, consumption, and modes of use, such as building codes, mileage standards, and commuting policies. Energy policy may be addressed via legislation, regulation, court decisions, public participation, and other techniques.
The National Partnership for Reinventing Government(NPR) was a U.S. government reform initiative launched in 1993 by Vice President Al Gore. Its goal was to make the federal government "work better, cost less, and get results Americans care about". The initiative aimed to streamline processes, cut bureaucracy (with a focus on overhead costs beyond issues addressable by statute), and implement innovative solutions. NPR was active until 1998. During its five years, it catalyzed significant changes in the way the federal government operates, including the elimination of over 100 programs, the elimination of over 250,000 federal jobs, the consolidation of over 800 agencies, and the transfer of institutional knowledge to contractors. NPR introduced the use of performance measurements and customer satisfaction surveys, and encouraged the use of technology including the Internet. NPR is recognized as a success and had a lasting impact according to government officials who worked on or were influenced by it under the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.
Steven C. Preston is the president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. He formerly served as the 14th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2008 to 2009 and the 22nd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 2006 until his appointment as HUD Secretary. Before entering public service, Preston spent nearly 25 years in financial and operational leadership positions in the private sector.
The State of New York Mortgage Agency is a New York State public-benefit corporation created in 1970 by the state government of New York to provide affordable homeownership to low- and moderate-income New Yorkers. It offers affordably priced fixed-rate mortgages through several mortgage programs for eligible homebuyers. Each program offers competitive interest rates, low down payments, down payment assistance and no prepayment penalties. SONYMA offers its programs through a network of participating lenders throughout New York state who contract with the agency to offer SONYMA's programs to their customers. The mortgage loans are purchased from the lenders by SONYMA, which funds the purchases by issuing tax-exempt bonds. In 2017, it had operating expenses of $62.57 million, an outstanding debt of $2.533 billion, and a staff level of 275 people.
Brian Darrell Montgomery is an American government official who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2020 to 2021. Montgomery previously served as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner from 2005 to 2009 and from 2018 to 2020. Montgomery is the only individual to serve as FHA Commissioner twice and under three U.S. Presidents.
The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA), established in 1975, is an independent California state agency within the California Department of Housing and Community Development that makes low-rate housing loans through the sale of taxable and tax exempt bonds.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is an independent federal agency in the United States created as the successor regulatory agency of the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development government-sponsored enterprise mission team, absorbing the powers and regulatory authority of both entities, with expanded legal and regulatory authority, including the ability to place government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) into receivership or conservatorship.
New Energy for America was a plan led by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden beginning in 2008 to invest in renewable energy sources, reduce reliance on foreign oil, address global warming issues, and create jobs for Americans. The main objective of the New Energy for America plan was to implement clean energy sources in the United States to switch from nonrenewable resources to renewable resources. The plan led by the Obama Administration aimed to implement short-term solutions to provide immediate relief from pain at the pump, and mid- to- long-term solutions to provide a New Energy for America plan. The goals of the clean energy plan hoped to: invest in renewable technologies that will boost domestic manufacturing and increase homegrown energy, invest in training for workers of clean technologies, strengthen the middle class, and help the economy.
In the United States, subsidized housing is administered by federal, state and local agencies to provide subsidized rental assistance for low-income households. Public housing is priced much below the market rate, allowing people to live in more convenient locations rather than move away from the city in search of lower rents. In most federally-funded rental assistance programs, the tenants' monthly rent is set at 30% of their household income. Now increasingly provided in a variety of settings and formats, originally public housing in the U.S. consisted primarily of one or more concentrated blocks of low-rise and/or high-rise apartment buildings. These complexes are operated by state and local housing authorities which are authorized and funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 2020, there were one million public housing units. In 2022, about 5.2 million American households received some form of federal rental assistance.
Shaun Lawrence Sarda Donovan is an American government official and housing specialist who served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2014, and Director of the US Office of Management and Budget from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he was the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 2004 to 2009 under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Deborah VanAmerongen joined Nixon Peabody as a strategic policy adviser in February 2010. She works closely with attorneys in the firm's Affordable Housing practice to provide advice to developers, owners, and managers of affordable housing, as well as their financing partners, in the preservation and production of affordable housing nationwide.
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is a development finance institution and agency of the United States federal government. DFC invests in development projects primarily in lower and middle-income countries. First authorized on 5 October 2018 by the BUILD Act, the independent agency was formed on 20 December 2019 by merging the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) with the Development Credit Authority (DCA) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as with several other smaller offices and funds.
