Former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Brian D. Montgomery has launched a new advisory firm based in Washington, D.C. focused within the financial services, mortgage lending/servicing, community development, and public housing sectors.
The new endeavor, Gate House Strategies LLC, will focus on Federal Housing Administration (FHA)/Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA, or “Ginnie Mae”)/HUD and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac policy and programmatic compliance and litigation support including origination, servicing, claims, and property disposition; strategic growth opportunities; technology; public housing; and disaster recovery.
This is according to a statement announcing the company’s formation made public on Wednesday afternoon, shared publicly by Montgomery and the other partners.
The new venture will also have the capacity to provide direct support for issues related to reverse mortgages including servicing, according to company literature.
In addition to Former Deputy Secretary Montgomery, other former FHA and HUD staffers from the Trump administration are a part of the new endeavor including Former Assistant Secretary for Public & Indian Housing Hunter Kurtz, Former Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development & Research Michael Marshall, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary and FHA Chief Risk Officer Keith Becker, and Former Senior Advisor to the FHA Commissioner Dror Oppenheimer.
“I am honored to join my former HUD colleagues as we continue our work in the affordable housing and disaster recovery sectors into the private sector,” said Montgomery, Chairman of Gate House Strategies in a statement announcing the company’s formation. “I am proud of the work our HUD team accomplished during our tenure, in particular dealing with COVID-19, and look forward to working with HUD stakeholders as they continue to assist their vulnerable constituencies and customers.”
In an exclusive interview with RMD earlier this year, Montgomery described how he hoped to embark on a new housing consultancy after taking some time off once he left office.
“I would say I have no intention of retiring anytime soon. So, I’m going to keep working. We’re going to probably stand up a consulting firm with some of my former colleagues at HUD and at FHA,” Montgomery told RMD in February. “And if we do that, I would definitely say our reverse mortgage expertise will be a part of the offering of the new firm. Not just advice around single family, but also multifamily, healthcare and even disaster recovery, I oversaw the $55 billion in disaster recovery funds that HUD deployed across the various states and other jurisdictions.”
