Federal Housing Administration

The FHA was led by the Federal Housing Commissioner Raymond M. Foley from 1945-1947 and Franklin D. Richards from 1947-1952. In 1954 Norman P. Mason was appointed as the Federal Housing Commissioner. New Deal origins During the Great Depression many banks failed, causing a drastic decrease in home loans and ownership. At that time, most home mortgages were short-term (three to five years), with no amortization, and balloon instruments at loan-to-value (LTV) ratios below sixty percent. This prevented many working and middle-class families from being able to afford home ownership. The banking crisis of the 1930s forced all lenders to retrieve due mortgages; refinancing was not available, and many borrowers, now unemployed, were unable to make mortgage payments. Consequently, many homes were foreclosed, causing the housing market to plummet. Banks collected the loan collateral (foreclosed homes) but the low property values resulted in a relative lack of assets. In 1934 the federal banking system was restructured. The National Housing Act of 1934 created the Federal Housing Administration. with the intention to regulate the rate of interest and the terms of insured mortgages. Before the FHA was established, many mortgages were balloon mortgages that required large payments at the end of the mortgage period, The mortgage period was typically 5 to 10 years. To secure a mortgage, people needed a large down payment of 30 to 50%. With the new FHA-secured loans, people now only needed a down payment as low as 10% and mortgage payment period went from 5–10 years to 20–30 years. The FHA calculated appraisal value based on eight criteria and directed its agents (called "appraisers") to lend more for higher appraised projects, up to a maximum cap. The two most important were "Relative Economic Stability", which constituted 40% of appraisal value, and "protection from adverse influences", which made up another 20%. In 1935, the FHA provided its appraisers with an Underwriting Manual, which gave the following instruction: "If a neighborhood is to retain stability it is necessary that properties shall continue to be occupied by the same social and racial classes. A change in social or racial occupancy generally leads to instability and a reduction of values." Appraisers were then told to give higher property and zoning ratings where "protection against some adverse influences is obtained", and defined adverse influences as "infiltration by inharmonious racial or nationality groups". Because the FHA's appraisal standards included a whites-only requirement, racial segregation became an official requirement of the federal mortgage insurance program, as the FHA frequently judged any properties in racially mixed neighborhoods or in close proximity to black neighborhoods as being high-risk. Fannie Mae and G.I. Bill In 1938 Congress created the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) which helped establish a secondary mortgage market in which banks and investors could buy and sell current home loans. After the adoption of the Serviceman's Readjustment Act (known as the GI Bill) in 1944, the FHA brought together a system of long-term mortgages for the construction and sale of private homes. The Veteran's Administration's home-loan guarantee program through the GI Bill allowed veterans to put down a payment of only one dollar. These changes helped fuel a surge in American home ownership, with families living in owner-occupied homes increasing 44 percent to 63 percent from 1934 and 1972. Major housing projects In 1935, Colonial Village in Arlington County, Virginia, was the first large-scale, rental housing project erected in the United States that was Federal Housing Administration-insured. During World War II, the FHA financed a number of worker's housing projects including the Kensington Gardens Apartment Complex in Buffalo, New York. During the Great Depression, Ohio Cities used federal government funds for building housing projects and first two of those projects completed in the United States were in Cincinnati and Cleveland. Establishment of HUD In 1965, the Federal Housing Administration became part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development with the Passage of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965. When the FHA became part of HUD, the FHA became a separate entity within HUD. A Federal Housing Commissioner who would also be an Assistant Secretary would head the FHA. The FHA and HUD have their similarities and differences. The Commissioner designated would administer all other departmental programs that relate to the private mortgage market in addition to duties as Assistant Secretary and FHA head. The FHA and HUD both help borrowers with bad credit and insufficient down payment to be able to buy or repair a house. == Subprime mortgage crisis ==

In the late 1990s, subprime mortgage products emerged and competed with the standard mortgages financed by the FHA. These products were typically poorly underwritten (if it all) and had higher profits for lenders. As a result lenders were motivated to turn borrowers toward subprime products even when qualified for FHA loans, which were safer. As the subprime mortgage market boomed, the FHA's market share of mortgages fell; in 2001 the FHA insured 14% of home-purchase loans, but by 2005 that number fell to less than 3%. The influx of these unregulated subprime loans helped fuel the United States housing bubble, which led to the subprime mortgage crisis and the near-collapse of the housing market. Following the subprime mortgage crisis, FHA, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, became a large source of mortgage financing in the United States. The share of home purchases financed with FHA mortgages went from 2 percent to over one-third of mortgages in the United States, as conventional mortgage lending dried up in the credit crunch. By 2011 the FHA backed about 40% of all home purchase loans in America. Since 2008 the FHA has backed more than 4 million loans and helped 2.6 million families lower monthly payments through refinancing. The troubled loans weighed heavily on the FHA's capital reserve fund, which by early 2012 had fallen below its congressionally mandated minimum of 2%, in contrast to more than 6% two years earlier. By November 2012, the FHA was essentially bankrupt. ==Mortgage insurance==

of FHA mortgage insurance claims from 2007 to 2015 Since 1934, the FHA and HUD have insured almost 50 million home mortgages. Currently, the FHA has approximately 8.5 million insured single family mortgage, more than 11,000 insured multifamily mortgages, and over 3,900 mortgages for hospitals and residential care facilities in its portfolio. FHA mortgage insurance The FHA insurance payments include two parts: the upfront mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) and the annual premium remitted on a monthly basis—the mutual mortgage insurance (MMI). The UFMIP is an obligatory payment, which can either be made in cash at closing or financed into the loan. ==Legacy==

The creation of the Federal Housing Administration successfully increased the size of the housing market. Home ownership increased from 40% in the 1930s to 61% and 65% in 1995. Home ownership peaked at nearly 69% in 2005, near the peak of the US housing bubble. By 1938 only four years after the beginning of the Federal Housing Administration, a house could be purchased for a down payment of only ten percent of the purchase price. The remaining ninety percent was financed by 25-year, self-amortizing, FHA-insured mortgage loan. After World War II, the FHA helped finance homes for returning white veterans and the families of white soldiers. It has helped with purchases of both single family and multifamily homes. In the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the FHA helped to spark the production of millions of units of privately owned apartments for elderly, handicapped, and lower-income Americans. When the soaring inflation and energy costs threatened the survival of thousands of private apartment buildings in the 1970s, FHA's emergency financing kept cash-strapped properties afloat. In the 1980s, when the economy did not support an increase in homeowners, the FHA helped to steady falling prices, making it possible for potential homeowners to finance when private mortgage insurers pulled out of oil-producing states. The greatest effects of the Federal Housing Administration can be seen within minority populations and in cities. Nearly half of FHA's metropolitan area business is located in central cities, a percentage that is much higher than that of conventional loans. The FHA also lends to a higher percentage of African Americans and Hispanic Americans, as well as younger, credit-constrained borrowers, contributing to the increase in home ownership among these groups. As the capital markets in the United States matured over several decades, the impact of the FHA decreased. In 2006 FHA made up less than 3% of all the loans originated in the United States. In fiscal year 2019, FHA-insured mortgages comprised 11.41% of all single family residential mortgage originations by dollar volume. 82.84% of FHA insured single family forward purchase transaction mortgages in fiscal year 2019 were for first-time homebuyers. Overall, minorities made up 36.24% of FHA purchase mortgage borrowers in calendar year 2018, compared to 19.94% through conventional lending channels. Redlining The Federal Housing Administration established mortgage underwriting standards that significantly discriminated against minority neighborhoods. Between 1945 and 1959, African Americans received less than 2 percent of all federally insured home loans. As the significance of subsidized mortgage insurance on the housing market grew, home values in inner-city minority neighborhoods plummeted. Also, the approval rates for minorities were equally low. After 1935, the FHA established guidelines to steer private mortgage investors away from minority areas. This practice, known as redlining, was made illegal by the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Redlining has had long-lasting effects on minority communities. The legacy of redlining can still be felt today as redlining is responsible for the modern wealth gap between African and White Americans. == See also ==