Senate Delays Decision on FHA Reform

Senate appropriators have put off a decision on FHA single-family reforms advocated by the Bush administration until they go to conference with the House on a Department of Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill."We will look at it in conference," a Senate staffer said. The senators don't want to go into conference with the Federal Housing Administration reforms "when there are significant issues that still need to be discussed," he said. Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., the chairman of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., harbor serious concerns about the FHA reforms, which would raise FHA loan limits and allow the FHA to charge risk-based insurance premiums and offer zero-downpayment loans. The House has already passed a HUD appropriations bill with the FHA reforms. But Sen. Bond's subcommittee approved a HUD appropriations bill July 18 that eliminates a loan cap on FHA reverse mortgages but does not include the FHA single-family reforms.