“(Building) costs are increasing. And one of the things that MBA has been focused on is, how do we make proper zoning laws that allow us to build some more high density, affordable housing in cities?”
Flood, who is also responsible for leading public policy for affordable housing lenders, said he understood the challenges faced both by the HUD and Secretary Fudge.
“I give her a lot of credit, because we have to remember that the HUD is not a corporation. When it gets access to business, it can’t just put out a ‘we’re hiring sign’ – they have to get money from the Government.”
Among the proposed solutions, the group suggested utilizing additional contractor resources to supplement workloads of HUD underwriter staff; redistributing workloads across regions to meet demand; and, over the long term, getting the HUD to find a balance of permanent and contracted resources to ensure adequate staffing.