Lopa P. Kolluri, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) for the Office of Housing and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), will provide a keynote address to reverse mortgage industry participants at the upcoming National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA) Virtual Annual Meeting taking place in early November. This is according to an email alert distributed to the association’s membership.
Kolluri, who previously spoke at the NRMLA Virtual Policy Conference held in April, has been an integral player in the FHA’s application of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program guidance since the inauguration of President Joe Biden in January. Ms. Kolluri is a housing expert with over 25 years of experience in affordable housing, community and economic development, having served in executive positions in public and private sectors as both a practitioner and policymaker at all levels.
In her previous statements in front of and directed toward the reverse mortgage industry, Kolluri has demonstrated a willingness to engage with both the association and the industry to ensure that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s mission in fulfilling the needs of seniors who may need assistance. She previously alluded to three “shared goals” between industry participants and government agencies.
Those goals include making sure that older Americans continue “to have the support and options they need to age in place in their own homes if they choose to do so;” addressing the immediate needs of HECM borrowers affected by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic; and ensuring the operational viability and workable financial status of the HECM as a tool for American seniors, she explained.
Her work since that speech and during the Biden administration has been numerous, most recently including a series of proposed changes to HECM program guidance to the Single Family Drafting Table, available for review through mid-November.
She has also overseen the expansion of reverse mortgage relief provisions to seniors affected by the pandemic; an extension of an eviction moratorium; new updates to the Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 (including in sections with direct relevance to the reverse mortgage industry); and additional protections for non-borrowing spouses (NBS) in a reverse mortgage transaction.
Kolluri also oversaw revisions to various servicing policies in the FHA Single-Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1, including application to the HECM program.
The NRMLA Virtual Annual Meeting will be taking place November 2-4 via the popular videoconferencing service Zoom. RMD will be in virtual attendance at the event.
