WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) today applauded the announcement
by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that will help
give families in Illinois a chance to buy a home and own a part of the
American dream.
At
a news conference, Schakowsky was joined by Rosanna A. Marquez, HUD’s representative
for the Midwest, and others to announce that the Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) will insure more than $29 billion worth of home mortgages in Illinois
over the next five years. The announcement was made in Schakowsky’s
district at a Rogers Park condominium conversion that will be marketed
to FHA-eligible buyers.
“The
underside of these economic good times is that escalating housing costs
have put homeownership out of the reach of average families throughout
the country. These additional FHA funds will put homeownership within
the grasp of many of these hard working families,” said Schakowsky, a member
of the Banking Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
“Under
the leadership of Secretary Cuomo, we are making affordable housing a national
priority again. I look forward to working with him to help meet the
tremendous needs of affordable housing and homeownership among our nation’s
families and seniors,” Schakowsky added.
Due
to recent reforms, FHA can commit more funds to ensuring that families,
who are not served by the conventional mortgage market, can have an opportunity
to purchase a home. Some of the recent steps taken to streamline
FHA and increase efficiency include installing of new technologies to speed
up loan approvals, cracking down on unscrupulous lenders, and consolidating
many activities to reduce cost.
FHA
does not make loans directly to consumers. It insures loans made
by private homebuyers to protect lenders from losses. As a result,
FHA has enabled 30 million families who cannot get a loan in the conventional
market to own their own home. FHA-insured loans allow for a lower
downpayment and flexible credit history. In 1999, FHA insured 1.3
million mortgages worth $125 billion. In 1999, FHA-insured loans
overwhelmingly went to first-time homebuyers (80.8%). In addition,
37.7% of the loans went to minorities. |