The Biden-Harris administration announced new actions to boost housing supply and lower housing costs, including an indefinite expansion of the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) Risk-Sharing program. The FFB Risk-Sharing program was created in 1992, temporarily lapsed from 2019 to 2021, and was reinstated in 2021 with an end date of September 2024. The program is now indefinitely extended and provides an ongoing source of capital so that state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs) can continue to offer FHA-insured multifamily loans at reduced interest rates.
In the coming weeks, the Administration will also publish regulations to streamline and modernize the HOME program so that households can more easily access homeownership and affordable rental opportunities. Additional efforts to boost the availability and affordability of manufactured housing include HUD’s announcement of availability of funding through the Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) grant program and the FHA’s publication of a final rule to increase loan limits for the Title I Manufactured Housing program. Finally, the Administration is implementing several actions to increase transparency in the rental market, such as clarifying HUD’s policies that prohibit non-rent fees in HUD-assisted housing, publishing policies that state and local governments can adopt to reduce eviction filings, and providing a fact sheet that outlines renter protections under the Fair Credit Report Act and the Fair Housing Act.
