Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner Frank Cassidy announced he was stepping down from his role to enter the private sector on June 3. His departure came only six months following his Senate confirmation.
Prior to being confirmed as FHA commissioner and assistant secretary for housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), via a 53-43 vote in December 2025, Cassidy had served as principal deputy assistant secretary at HUD since April of that year.
“[M]ore important than any policy change was the CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION we began at FHA,” he wrote on his LinkedIn profile. “We ran FHA like the business it really is!”
Cassidy highlighted what he deemed the agency’s greatest accomplishments under his leadership, including:
- Reducing multifamily mortgage insurance premiums to the statutory minimum of 25 basis points (bps) across all multifamily loan programs and eliminating “burdensome, costly, ideologically driven ‘Green Energy’ requirements.”
- Streamlining environmental and regulatory reviews to help increase housing production.
- Modernizing FHA’s Single Family loss mitigation waterfall and advancing credit score competition through VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T.
- Launching the Sec. 232 “Express Lane,” meant to dramatically reduce processing times for healthcare transactions and expand funding for capital improvements.
- Overseeing “one of the strongest production years in FHA history,” with FHA Multifamily on track to exceed last year’s record $14 billion production volume, while FHA Healthcare generated more than $8 billion in firm commitments all while reducing 232 portfolio delinquencies by more than 60 percent in just one year by embracing private-sector asset management best practices.
- Expanding collaboration with private sector lenders, borrowers, developers, healthcare operators and housing providers across the country.
In a HUD press release, Cassidy thanked his colleagues, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and President Donald Trump for their support during his brief tenure.
“Under Secretary Turner’s leadership, we will continue modernizing FHA, supporting responsible homeownership, increasing housing supply, and strengthening partnerships with the private sector to deliver for American families,” Cassidy said.
“I am glad to see Frank confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner,” Turner added. “Frank’s dedication to HUD’s mission and vast private sector experience is invaluable and we look forward to his continued work ensuring FHA serves the American people.”
The FHA supports a $1.9 trillion portfolio and holds a critical role in the nation’s housing finance system and healthcare infrastructure, the release noted.
The financial services industry supported Cassidy’s nomination to fill the FHA commissioner role in August 2025. The Mortgage Bankers Association praised his “extensive experience in real estate finance” in the private sector, which the trade said would provide him with “compelling insights on how to make FHA’s single-family and multifamily programs less costly and more innovative and competitive.”
Cassidy reportedly took a leave of absence in April and had intended to return to the FHA at that time.