View or download a PDF of the letter here.
AFR-EF submitted comments on the HUD’s Single Family Home Sale Program in support of improved borrower protections for homeowners impacted by FHA note sales. AFR-EF also called on the FHA to change practices that allow private equity and other corporate landlords access to large note pools, highlighting the negative impacts on homeowners and their neighborhoods.
HUD’s proposal provides a much-needed, improved framework for HUD’s ongoing note sales, incorporating many procedural improvements, including requiring notice to homeowners before their loan is sold, and requiring note purchasers to provide loss mitigation options that are as or more generous than those offered by the FHA, meaning that borrowers in financial hardship whose notes have been sold will still have access to reasonable loss mitigation methods. While, we appreciate these improvements, the program still serves as a means for private equity and other private institutional investors to acquire single-family housing, reducing affordable homeownership opportunities for owner-occupants and fueling the corporate consolidation of housing in the United States.