HUD officials offer an action plan to spark FHA lending

Federal housing leaders Joe Gormley and Matt Jones were on stage this week at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)’s Annual Convention and Expo in Chicago to delve into ongoing work at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Ginnie Mae. Among the topics they touched on Tuesday, during a session moderated by newly minted MBA Chairman Owen Lee, CEO of Success Mortgage Partners, were efforts to reduce program costs, increase servicer liquidity and accelerate manufactured housing development. Jones, who currently serves as deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing at HUD, is awaiting a Senate confirmation vote to become the next permanent FHA commissioner. He told the audience in Chicago that the FHA program needs a higher level of participation across the lender spectrum. HUD data shows that FHA loans accounted for 13.3% of all single-family mortgage volume in 2025 — a number that’s been rising since bottoming out in 2021 but is still dwarfed by the conventional channel. “We haven’t been shy about saying we want to bring more lender participation into this program — whether that’s a large bank, small bank, commun...