PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · May 24, 2011
FHA Reform Act of 2011 - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to require specified mortgagees to indemnify HUD for payment of a mortgage insurance claim if the mortgage was not originated or underwritten in accordance with HUD requirements.
Authorizes the Secretary to require a mortgagee to indemnify HUD for loss regardless of when an insurance claim is paid if fraud or misrepresentation was involved in connection with the mortgage origination or underwriting.
Authorizes the Secretary to terminate approval of a mortgagee to originate or underwrite single family mortgages if the mortgagee's rate of early defaults and claims is excessive.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Establishes within the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Risk Management and Regulatory Affairs responsible for all matters relating to managing and mitigating the risk to HUD mortgage insurance funds and for ensuring the performance of HUD-insured mortgages.
Abolishes the position of the FHA chief risk officer.
Directs the Secretary to review and identify to Congress any mortgagees with a significant or rapid increase in early defaults and claims with respect to all mortgages they have originated on housing located in any particular geographic area or areas.
Directs the Secretary to require mortgagees of HUD-insured single-family or multifamily housing to notify HUD if they terminate or discontinue mortgage purchases from another mortgagee based upon any determination, evidence, or report of fraud or material misrepresentation in connection with the origination of such mortgages.
Prescribes conditions compelling the Secretary to review and reduce certain cash investment requirements (down payment requirements) binding upon mortgages or mortgagors.
Revises eligibility requirements for mortgage insurance, including insurance for a home equity conversion mortgage (reverse mortgage) for elderly homeowners.
Revises requirements for early mortgage default and foreclosure information collected by the Secretary for mortgage lender analysis.
Authorizes the Secretary to reimburse servicers of certain HUD-insured residential mortgages for the costs of obtaining the services of specified independent third parties, including a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, to make in-person contact, at no charge, with mortgagors whose payments are 60 or more days past due, solely to provide specified information.
Directs the Secretary, in providing reimbursements, to give priority to independent third parties serving mortgagors in areas experiencing a mortgage foreclosure rate and unemployment rate higher than the national average.
Revises maximum mortgage amount limits for multifamily housing that includes elevator-type structures with sound standards of construction and design.
Directs the Secretary to provide refunds of unearned premium charges paid at the time of insurance for mortgage insurance to or on behalf of mortgagors under certain mortgages on one-to-four family dwellings.
People & committees
Rep. Waters, Maxine [D-CA-35] · D–CA
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity.
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 14, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.1977 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.1977 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.1977 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.1977 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.