Hello, LOs!
Ginnie Mae finally has a Senate-confirmed president, Alanna McCargo.
The agency guarantees mortgage-backed securities backed by loans covered by the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, HUD's Office of Public and Indian Housing, and the USDA's Rural Housing Service. As of November, it oversaw an unpaid principal balance of $2.1 trillion. It hasn't had a permanent president since 2017, when Ted Tozer departed.
Tozer, who is now a senior fellow at the Milken Institute's Center for Financial Markets, told me it was "unconscionable" to go so long without a president.
As he explained it, the Ginnie Mae president functions as a sort of internal liaison between the career staff, which executes policy, and the administration, which sets it. Tozer said he thinks McCargo has the curiosity to sit down with the career staff, understand what's going on, and present it to HUD Sec. Marcia Fudge to smooth out any kinks.
Some have said McCargo might have too much policy experience and not enough technical chops — but Tozer said that, given a choice between the two, it's more important to understand the "political aspect of how to spin stuff."
"If you're in a situation where you have someone who is technically strong or politically savvy, the political savvy is more important right now, because the career staff is so seasoned," Tozer said.
Without a president, "you don't have that pipeline into the policy corridors of the administration," he said.
Speaking of not having a leader, Julia Gordon, president of National Community Stabilization Trust, was nominated to be FHA commissioner back in June. Gordon is still awaiting confirmation in the Senate.
David Dworkin, the president of the National Housing Conference, said McCargo should have the support of a fully-staffed team at HUD, and that includes a counterpart at the FHA.
"Ms. Gordon's experience reducing the impact of foreclosure in communities across the country is second to none," Dworkin said. "In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, her confirmation would provide Americans with the best possible leadership to minimize foreclosures and the impact they have on our communities."
But a Washington, D.C. mortgage lobbyist told me it may be a while before Gordon's confirmation goes forward, since Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Patrick Toomey, is "hell-bent" on delaying it.
LOs, once the FHA does get a commissioner, what should be their first policy priority? Should the FHA lower its premiums? Do you think it's a problem that so many government borrowers refinance to conventional?
Georgia Kromrei
Senior Mortgage Reporter, HousingWire
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