Hey, Members A Roundup of Issues and News for NRMLA Members By Darryl Hicks IN THIS ISSUE, we highlight important news from the final quarter of 2023 with links to more information. If you have questions about any of these topics, please feel free to contact me at dhicks@dworbell.com. • NRMLA submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in November that requested clarification on several new policies contained in the HECM section of Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1. Given the large amount of information contained in the handbook, NRMLA will continue to submit comments to HUD through Q1 2024. Read the handbook at https://bit.ly/41uIybt. • Senior housing wealth grew by $178.4 billion in the third quarter to a record $13.08 trillion, according to the latest quarterly release of the NRMLA/RiskSpan Reverse Mortgage Market Index. Read the full news release at https://bit.ly/48ioICe. • The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) adopted servicing policy changes that are designed to improve the HECM program’s financial stability and overall performance, among them the ability for servicers to confirm annual occupancy by phone. Details were provided in Mortgagee Letter 2023-23, which can be found at https://bit.ly/3RMJXGP. • For a third consecutive year, the HECM portfolio had a positive economic value, according to HUD’s 2023 Annual Report to Congress published in mid-November. The stand-alone capital ratio for the HECM portfolio stood at 16.72 percent in FY 2023, which is significantly higher than the congressionally mandated ratio of two percent. A copy of the annual report can be accessed at https://bit.ly/3RrEJ1Z. • Ginnie Mae published its fiscal year 2023 annual report in December to highlight its programs and accomplishments from the past year, including steps taken to alleviate liquidity pressures that impacted issuers of HECM mortgage-backed securities. Read the full report at https://bit.ly/3uXduVl. • NRMLA submitted comments on December 11 that applauded FHA’s expansion of the HECM assignment option to allow servicers to assign loans following the death of the last remaining borrower and/or non-borrowing spouse to address liquidity concerns facing the HECM industry. Read the draft Mortgagee Letter at https://bit.ly/41AtoBl. • NRMLA submitted comments to HUD in December to support a proposed rule—https://www. govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-10-25/pdf/202323332.pdf—to amend HUD’s regulations to allow housing counseling agencies to use alternative communication methods, including virtual meeting tools, instead of providing in-person services. • NRMLA submitted comments to HUD on December 8 in support of a Federal Register Notice that announced HUD would update the HECM for Purchase program by permitting “interested party” contributions up to six percent of the sales price and additional funding sources to satisfy a borrower’s monetary investment, including premium pricing, gifts, disaster relief grants and employer assistance. Read the Federal Register Notice at https://bit.ly/3GPwGaa. • A December report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies concluded that the United States is ill-equipped to provide adequate housing and supportive services to the 17 million households that will be headed by a person age 80 and over by 2040. The report noted that leveraging home equity could provide a potential solution to cover the costs of care. Access the report at https://bit.ly/4844GLZ. Darryl Hicks is NRMLA’s vice president of communications. REVERSE MORTGAGE / MARCH-APRIL 2024 7
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