Federal Housing Administration

Definition

The Federal Housing Administration is a U.S. government agency created in 1934 to improve housing standards and conditions, provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans, and stabilize the mortgage market. It plays a pivotal role in promoting homeownership by offering low-down-payment loans to buyers with less-than-perfect credit scores.

Related terms

Liberalism: A political ideology that emphasizes individual freedoms, democracy, and equality, often advocating for government intervention to correct social inequalities.

New Deal: A series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States during the 1930s designed to help the U.S. recover from the Great Depression.

Mortgage Insurance: An insurance policy which compensates lenders or investors for losses due to the default of a mortgage loan, with FHA providing such insurance primarily for single-family and multi-family homes