Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), recently issued a statement following an announcement by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HUD announcement pertained to it reducing the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP), according to a release.
“In October 2022, NFHA and our partners wrote a letter to HUD, FHA, and the National Economic Council urging the Biden-Harris administration to reduce the annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) for borrowers with FHA-insured loans,” Bailey said in the statement. “We are pleased that our request was put into action. Lowering the MIP will help make it possible for more mortgage-ready Black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native communities to afford and access homeownership, the primary wealth-building tool for American families.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen the dream of homeownership slip further and further away from millions of everyday people, particularly people of color who have already been locked out of homeownership opportunities due to centuries of unfair race-based policies and practices perpetuated by the federal government, private sector, and others,” Bailey added. “This action creates a necessary pathway to helping some of the pandemic’s hardest-hit families reach their American Dreams of owning a home.”
The NFHA also stated that at a time when rapidly rising rents are making it nearly impossible to save for a down payment, and sky-high home prices and higher interest rates are creating yet another hurdle on the journey to homeownership, NFHA welcome this reduction in the FHA’s MIP.
Not only will this decrease place homeownership in range for more everyday individuals, but it will also help spur economic growth in communities throughout the country, the statement went on to say.
“We look forward to continuing to work with HUD, FHA, and the rest of the Biden-Harris administration to adopt more policies that help advance housing equity and build strong, healthy, thriving communities,” Bailey said.