Tag Archives: HUD

The Great Neck, New York-based Golden First agreed to pay $36 million to settle a complaint originally filed by the United States in April 2013 and amended in August 2013. In the complaint, the government accuses Golden First of violating the False Claims Act through years of misconduct relating to the mortgage company's participation in the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)'s Direct Endorsement Lender Program.

The enhancements are designed to make monthly mortgage payments affordable for homeowners in MHA who are struggling, to strengthen the safety net for homeowners facing financial hardships, and to help stabilize communities most affected by the financial crisis by helping homeowners in MHA build equity in their homes.

The United States Senate voted Tuesday to confirm the nomination of former Treasury assistant secretary Nani Coloretti to her new post as deputy secretary of HUD. Coloretti's confirmation comes months after the Senate confirmed Julian Castro as HUD secretary.

Damon Smith, former acting general counsel for HUD, has joined law firm Jenner & Block as a partner in the group's District of Columbia office, according to an announcement.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled this week that only claims of direct, intentional discrimination could be made under the Fair Housing Act, which was passed in 1968. While the Fair Housing Act does not specifically state it allows disparate claims lawsuits, courts have allowed them for years.

The Commerce Department and HUD estimate that new home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 467,000 in September, according to a joint report from the agencies. September's sales rate marks a 0.2 percent increase over August's revised rate and a 17 percent jump above September 2013. New home sales in August, originally reported at an annual pace of 504,000, came down dramatically in the government's revised estimate.

HUD Secretary Julian Castro unveiled in a speech the points of the agency's "Blueprint for Access" meant to ease the risk of lending while expanding credit. "It's in our entire nation's interest to help more responsible Americans succeed in the housing market by expanding access to credit," Castro said.

The so-called qualified residential mortgage (QRM) rule, which was put up for consideration by FDIC's board of directors Tuesday morning, would require banks to retain at least 5 percent of a loan's risk when packing mortgages to sell to investors in the secondary market. The QRM rule is one of the bigger provisions mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, with co-author Barney Frank remarking in the past that risk retention is "the single most important part of the bill."

According to a joint release from the Commerce Department and HUD, homebuilders broke ground on new projects at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.02 million last month, 6.3 percent above August's revised estimate of 957,000 (just barely up from the government's initial estimate).

The Office of Inspector General for HUD announced that civil investigations of some of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) largest lenders have resulted in significant settlements in the last year. "These settlements are the latest step in a continuing effort to bring to light significant problems that we have identified in the loan underwriting practices of a number of large FHA-approved lenders, which have or will provide a meaningful financial boost to the FHA insurance fund," HUD OIG David A. Montoya said.