Affordable housing

St. Louis officials approved using $5 million in federal tax credits to extend a loan to national low-income housing firm McCormack Baron Salazar, an unusual move the company said will help it weather the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Buying power for many consumers is hampered and some originators said that affects their ability to serve consumers.

The coronavirus pandemic brought more attention to the affordable housing issue and illuminated already vulnerable, low-income populations.

The Federal Housing Administration's move to insure loans with forbearance could help support homeownership opportunities constrained by the coronavirus if one change was made to it, trade groups said.

Groups representing community banks and credit unions generally support the new percentage-based goals set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The coronavirus pandemic is driving rents down in San Francisco and across the region, reshaping a housing market that for the past decade has generated enormous profits for residential developers while displacing tens of thousands of workers from the inner Bay Area.

The new FHFA rule sets a percentage-based threshold to measure compliance, rather than Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.

We need to be doing everything possible to ensure those that needed down payment assistance are able to keep their homes during this crisis and beyond.

Tenants have threatened to suspend payments during the pandemic to pressure officials into providing rental assistance, but the effects on multifamily loans would compound concerns about servicers' liquidity and, ultimately, lenders' performance.

As real estate prices soared in recent years, working-class adults everywhere have increasingly relied on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — and U.S. taxpayers.