Former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Brian Montgomery, former Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Hunter Kurtz, former acting Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research Michael Marshall, former Deputy Assistant Secretary and FHA Chief Risk Officer Keith Becker, and former Senior Advisor to the FHA Commissioner Dror Oppenheimer have partnered to launch Gate House Strategies, LLC, a mortgage compliance and affordable housing advisory venture. Together, they bring 100 years of housing experience under one roof.
“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,” Gate House Chairman Montgomery said in a release. “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.”
The company will focus on FHA, Ginnie Mae, HUD, Fannie Mae, and 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.
“While at HUD, we worked hard to help ensure we were delivering services to all our vulnerable citizens and doing so in an efficient and timely manner especially as COVID-19 roiled the nation,” Kurtz said. “Our recent perspective and experience on HUD’s many programs will help PHAs [public housing agencies], local governments, nonprofits, and others as they continue to move forward.”
Gate House strategies will seek to bring a new level of focus and diligence to its clients and other stakeholders as it works toward achieving more equity and fairness for the groups it serves and supports, the release stated. In addition to their expertise in the operations of government-backed mortgage programs, the partners have experience with federal and state disaster recovery processes, public housing authorities, and community development programs. The group also has a track record of developing national and local housing policy solutions from beginning to end. Their knowledge includes a deep understanding of how housing policy is developed, who the influential players are, and how to effect meaningful change.
“From day one, we led the effort to assist thousands of homeowners impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Oppenheimer said. “[W]e look forward to assisting mortgage servicers and other stakeholders as they deal with the unprecedented number of homeowners coming out of COVID-19 forbearance in the near future.”