In conjunction with Argentum’s Public Policy Fly-In last month, Argentum convened a roundtable with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Frank Cassidy and his team at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on solutions to expand access to federal financing programs for senior living.
McKnight’s Senior Living published an article today on the roundtable and how Argentum is working with senior Trump Administration officials on the importance of streamlining federal housing programs to promote more development and investment. Last month’s meeting was a continuation of a series of meetings that Argentum has held with FHA Commissioner Cassidy, and are aligned with Argentum’s Strategic Vision to Increase Access to senior living by expanding capital availability and modernizing federal programs that support development and refinancing of senior living communities.
FHA Commissioner Cassidy has led efforts at HUD to streamline the lending process, including through the creation of “Express Lanes.” This program provides a faster application process for the Section 232/223(f) program, which focuses on refinancing existing facilities. It is designed to significantly cut down processing times by prioritizing applications that meet specific low-risk criteria, such as a maximum 70% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio. The express lanes has gained significant traction since launching last year. HUD is working on closing about two-dozen action items to help streamline the process to speed up the closing process for applicants. They are making significant progress on some of the legal hurdles that have previously impeded progress on streamlining the process.
The meeting brought together a broad group of subject matter experts in senior housing finance to identify three prongs of actions the administration can take to meet the current and projected demand for seniors housing: (1) near-term, high impact, (2) mid-term, meaningful impact, and (3) longer-term issues. Stakeholders were able to share on-the-ground challenges and pose actionable solutions to promote access to federal financing programs.