A new series of Issue Briefs authored by Rachel Bratt, a Senior Research Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies and former visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, offer insights about HUD’s regulations and procedures concerning mortgages near foreclosure/end-stage default following the Great Recession. The Briefs were being finalized just as the coronavirus pandemic was beginning. Beyond our current and pressing concerns about health, mortality rates, personal financial distress, and impacts on businesses and the national economy, we will likely soon be facing an increase in loan defaults and foreclosures, as significant numbers of people are unable to make their mortgage payments.

Policymakers and financial institutions have taken several immediate steps to help homeowners who have lost income during this period. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took action by placing a 60-day moratorium on foreclosures for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). In addition, the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan servicers to lower or suspend borrowers’ mortgage payments for up to 12 months if homeowners have lost income because of the pandemic. Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, borrowers can initiate a 180-day forbearance and foreclosure moratorium for any federally-backed mortgage loan. Private non-government-backed lenders and servicers also have volunteered mortgage relief.

These short-term actions may relieve some financial distress and forestall some foreclosures and, in the longer term, the economy hopefully will recover. However, that recovery will likely be uneven and the financial challenges for millions of families could continue as workers struggle to regain a foothold. In addition, those who contracted the virus may experience long-term effects that will impact their ability to work. Should these challenges come to pass, there likely will be a spike in foreclosure rates over the next several years. Other households, unable to afford their mortgage payments, may be able to avoid foreclosure, but they may find themselves forced into a rushed sale and a destabilizing move. And, as always, those who will be hit hardest will be households with less secure employment and fewer assets, a pattern that parallels the disproportionate impact of the disease itself. This situation will therefore likely have a disparate and more serious impact on households of color and on more fragile neighborhoods.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University are pleased to be presenting this Issue Brief series at a time when the insights drawn from this research may be of great value as policymakers look to craft a response to this latest economic crisis. Since the research and writing for this series of Briefs were done during a period of declining foreclosures for both FHA-insured and conventional loans, Bratt points out that this relatively calm stretch provided “a good time to explore the extent to which a number of HUD/FHA default and foreclosure policies and procedures are serving the public interest and to identify opportunities for improvement.”

These Issue Briefs offer a number of insights about HUD’s regulations and procedures concerning mortgages that are close to foreclosure, or end-stage default through the lens of mortgage market upheaval following the Great Recession. Also drawing on the experiences of local and state governments, as well as several nonprofit organizations, a number of thoughtful and innovative suggestions are offered for how homeowners in end-stage default can be assisted to retain their homes, thereby promoting family and neighborhood stability. Now is a good time to consider how to apply the lessons learned in order to safeguard the hardest-hit households and communities facing foreclosures in 2020 and beyond.