Report suggests that the most important HECM Field Office at HUD can be closed
HECM and the National Service Center
The effects on the HECM program are bound by the potential closure of the Hud Field Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in which HECM-specific functions of HUD’s National Service Center (NSC) are housed. The NSC is the key to the work of the HECM program and, according to Bloomberg, it could see moving to another field office in Texas.
According to 2019 Congress Testimony from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), The NSC introduced 105,000 HECM-related maintenance investigations between 2015 and 2018. NSC employees have also carried out HECM program policy with regard to the administration of insurance claims and interest calculations, as detailed by its staff during a reverse mortgage meeting in mid-2023.
“Some HUD offices represent nodes for specialized work that is not done at other locations,” Bloomberg reported. “For example, the field office in Tulsa, Oklahoma – one of the many that are planned to be closed – has important staff employed for the FHAs [HECM] Program, which processes reverse mortgages. If the Tulsa staff is offered the chance to move, the nearest office is almost five hours away, in Fort Worth. “
According to HUD’s websiteGeneral NSC questions are aimed at an address in Oklahoma City, while all HECM-related functions are mentioned as from Tulsa.
“The goal of HUDs [NSC] is to collaborate with FHA homeowners and their lenders to prevent shielding, “Hud said about the functions of the NSC. “NSC staff also offers directions and training to mortgage providers and housing agencies, which are better able to help homeowners.”
Federal requirements for field offices
Antonio Gaines, president of the US Federation of Government employees (Aged) National Council 222, which represents more than 5,000 HUD employees, states that these unbridled closures would violate federal legislation.
The American code requires That “the secretary maintains no less than one office in each state to carry out” the processing of the mortgage insurance.
“If they decide not to do that, they must ask for an exemption,” Gaines told Bloomberg. “They should go to the congress.”
“No decisions have been completed, but the department investigates consolidation and continues to prioritize the service,” a Hud spokesperson told Bloomberg.
Housing‘S Reverse MortGage Daily (RMD) contacted HUD about the functions of the National Service Center and received the following answer: “The HECM program is a critical function of the mission and it will continue.”
Response industry, urban report
Steve Irwin, president of the National Reverse MortGage Lenders Association (NRMLA), RMD said that the association is in contact with the relevant employees to determine what the path that will look like for us for HECM insurance policies.
“NRMLA is aware that HUD has looked at the consolidation of functions of different field offices, and I have had contact with members of the Tulsa Field Office team on which HECM-related functions can be consolidated within other department offices,” Irwin said.
“The final provisions of the distribution of specific means and the effects on HECM-specific tasks are not yet known. NRMLA will certainly inform its members once the final determination of HUD has been announced. “
A Recent report from the Urban InstituteHe warned of the negative effects that serious cuts at FHA would bring to mortgage lenders and the wider industry, included a remark about the work of the NSC.
“The origin process for government loans is largely, but not complete, automated, especially for large lenders,” the report explained. “During the origin process, lenders regularly trust the National Service Center of the FHA, which means that staff searches can lead to a meaningful reduction of FHA loans.”
The report also described the importance of maintaining well-supported HECM program functions at HUD and FHA.
“Through the HECM program, seniors home -needed power can extract for maintenance, repairs or general costs of living, while staying in their own home,” the report said. “The HECM program is disproportionately labor -intensive and dismissed can decimate a lifeline for senior homeowners in a time of fast aging in the US”
