COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING 

RAISING THE FHA LOAN LIMIT

WHEREAS, the FY 1999 Federal Budget proposes to raise the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) loan limits for mortgages from $170,360 to $227,150; and

WHEREAS, there now exists more than 250 separate loan limits ranging from $86,217 to $ 170,362; and

WHEREAS, the FY 1999 budget would establish a single nationwide loan of $227,150; and

WHEREAS, this would simplify the existing system of FHA loans and would give access to borrowers in high cost markets, now priced out of the FHA market; and

WHEREAS, in a recent U.S. Conference of Mayors study, it was found that mortgage loan discrimination limits home ownership in our nation’s cities to just 49 percent of all households -- a dramatic 22.5 percent below the suburban home ownership rate of 71.5 percent; and

WHEREAS, the gap between the city and the suburban home ownership rate is unfair and denies the opportunity of families living in central cities to live in a home of their choice; and

WHEREAS, the single nationwide FHA loan limit could help increase the percentage of minorities and female-headed households able to obtain ownership in both central cities and in our nation’s suburbs,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the United States Conference of Mayors supports the increase of the FHA loan limits, and calls upon Congress to approve the FY 1999 budget request.