The Federal Housing Administration has further extended the
The administration, an arm of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that primarily insures loans to entry-level homebuyers with affordability constraints, cited concerns about the seasonal "tripledemic" of COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus in its decision. The coronavirus pandemic's continuing status as a national and public health emergency also were cited.
The agency also showed concern about the mortgage industry's ability to handle the requirement given current market conditions.
"The pandemic, inflation, and the job market have created a shortage of staff and resources, so servicers and their vendors are not operating at full capacity," HUD noted.
One "door-knock" vendor, NCCI, said recently that it had the wherewithal to handle demand for the face-to-face requirement, but also has to juggle steady demand for work from some servicers interested in reaching borrowers
Another reason FHA gave for the extension was the fact that it considers methods like email, phone interviews or video calling, which have been used since the pandemic, sufficient for most loans. The only exception was for those made to indigenous people living on reservations, which do not have a waiver.
"The use of technology during the pandemic has been successful in achieving the same goals as a face-to-face interaction thereby eliminating the need to take the risky step to returning to requiring in-person contact," @FHAgov Commissioner Julia Gordon said in a bulletin.
While the statement supports the argument that
HUD first initiated the partial waiver in March 2020 with plans to have it expire 12 months later. Instead it first extended it to Dec. 31, 2021. This marks the second year running that it's extended the waiver for a subsequent year.
