Hearings Planned on Modernizing FHA

The chairman of the House Financial Services' housing subcommittee, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, is planning to hold a series of hearings on the Federal Housing Administration that look at ways to modernize the mortgage insurance agency, update its technology, and increase its staffing and expertise.The House panel will also be looking at the Rural Housing Service, which has been trying to update its single-family and multifamily loan guarantee programs, a House Financial Services Committee staffer said. The staffer, speaking at the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders meeting, did not indicate when the FHA hearings would start. In preparation for the hearings, Rep. Ney has ordered several Government Accountability Office reports. One report is on actions the FHA can take to manage risks associated with new loan programs. Another report is on the FHA's TOTAL scorecard, which is used in automated underwriting systems to approve FHA single-family loans. (TOTAL stands for technology open to approved lenders.)