FHA Template Op-Ed

We’ve all seen the headlines that followed on the heels of the recent release of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) report on its financial status: “The FHA’s Nosedive,” “Housing Agency’s Cash Reserves Down Sharply,” and “Housing Agency’s Financial Cushion Sinks.”

Buried beneath the headlines is an important fact: The FHA has stepped into the U.S. housing market in an unprecedented way over the last two years when the private sector clearly could not – temporarily playing an increased role to prevent foreclosures and support the return of private capital to the housing market.

Since the housing crisis and recession began in 2007, the FHA has been there to make mortgage lending possible when the private sector has not, creating opportunities for qualified low- and moderate-income homebuyers who have the credit record, capacity to pay and desire to grab their piece of the American Dream. The truth is that without the FHA’s increased presence in the mortgage market in recent months, many more houses around the country would be vacant, destabilizing communities.

The FHA has been the fuel for first-time homeowners, enabling an estimated one-half of all first-time homebuyers across the nation achieve homeownership in the second quarter of 2009 alone.

The FHA is also making a difference here in [community]. At [NWO], we’ve helped [#] first-time homebuyers become homeowners in the last year, thanks in part to the FHA. In the last [#, 5, 10, 25?] years, we’ve helped [#] qualified, hard-working families realize their dream of long-term homeownership with the help of the FHA.

[Insert homeowner story if you have one]

Without the FHA, today’s housing market would be in worse condition, with homeowners and communities paying the price. Families would not be able to buy homes because they wouldn’t have access to safe, affordable financing. [Community] neighborhoods would be further destabilized by foreclosure. Our residential streets would be littered with vacant and abandoned homes.

While the FHA’s financial cushion has indeed “sunk,” we cannot more strongly emphasize the important role the Agency has played and will continue to play in our nation’s housing market and economic recovery. Not to mention the difference it’s making here in [community], helping NeighborWorks organizations like [NWO] work with qualified [community] homebuyers to help them get on the right track and move toward long-term homeownership.

Like [NWO’s] homebuyers, the FHA, too, is on the right track. It is serving qualified homebuyers, developing a plan to increase its capital strength, and laying the foundation to continue stabilizing the housing market until the private sector is back on its feet.