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The Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, is an agency of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that provides mortgage insurance, mostly for single-family homes. Congress created the Federal Housing Administration in 1934 as a way to increase homeownership by making mortgages more accessible to low-income families. Today the Federal Housing Administration serves not only low-income, but also middle-income borrowers. The Federal Housing Administration provides this mortgage insurance through its Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which is entirely funded by borrower insurance premiums. A mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration is called an FHA loan. The Federal Housing Administration has insured tens of millions of loans in the decades since it was created and insures several million today. The Federal Housing Administration competes with several private mortgage insurers, but it is larger than all of these. |
