Frank Cassidy has stepped down as Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
In an exclusive interview with Scotsman Guide, Cassidy said even though he’s no longer working in the administration, he plans “to use my voice as the highest-ranking Trump administration housing finance official now on the outside to advocate for the president’s housing agenda and help make housing more affordable for the millions of Americans that need it.”
Cassidy called serving “a great honor.”
He said his wife was eight months pregnant when he got the call from the White House in February 2025, right after President Donald Trump was inaugurated. He started work that April andy went through the Senate confirmation process, where he was confirmed with bipartisan support.
Since beginning with the job, Cassidy had been commuting back and forth between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., which kept him away from his family.
More Time with Family
“It was a 24/7 job and I’m ready to spend more time with my family, young daughter, and get back to the private sector,” Cassidy said. “I felt like I put my time in. I got a lot done.”
Cassidy said he plans to fight for passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which passed the House of Representatives on May 20 with strong bipartisan support, although it has not advanced through the Senate.
He predicted the bill “will be the biggest piece of housing legislation to ever pass. It will have far-winding effects.”
It “will affect our kids and our grandkids,” Cassidy said, praising President Donald Trump’s “bold leadership in calling the housing crisis what it is and enabling his appointees to deregulate and streamline.”
He predicted the act will be passed before midterm elections.
“I really am hopeful, and I’m going to use my voice to encourage Congress, the Senate and the House to come together and pass that bill. It looks like they’re getting very close, but there’s a lot of great stuff in there.”
Along with his responsibilities as FHA Commissioner, Cassidy oversaw HUD’s Office of Manufactured Housing, which oversees the design, building and installation of manufactured homes.
Manufactured Housing
Cassidy said the proposals in the ROAD to Housing legislation are “pretty interesting in that regard.”
He said that manufactured housing is only seen as being a one-story building, he said, citing the steel chassis on the first floor.
“you’ve never really been able to build second, third, and fourth stories,” Cassidy said, noting that the bill gets rid of the first-floor steel chassis requirement.
“It kind of combines the innovation and the technology for modular housing with manufactured housing,” he said, adding that the regulations would give builders another set of standards nationwide.
Cassidy cited the 50 different sets of regulations in 50 states as the issue.
“The ability to have one set of standards across the housing product will make housing easier and cheaper to build.”
Cassidy noted that one of his proudest achievements in his role came from the multifamily industry, where he helped recalibrate and lower the multifamily mortgage insurance premium to 25 basis points across the board. “That’s the statutory minimum. We did it for all multifamily,” he said, pointing out programs 221d4, 223f, 241.
Loss Mitigation Waterfall
“Prior to that, there were about a dozen different categories and to get the 25 basis points minimum, you had to get your building certified as a green energy building.” He said the premiums had “added significant cost and burdensome reporting requirements” to the projects.
“We said, every multifamily program is going to get that minimum 25 basis points. Doesn’t matter if it’s green or energy star certification because the reality is, all these buildings nowadays are already being built to that standard.”
He noted that on the single-family side, the revision to the loss mitigation waterfall, as the agency turned the page on COVID.
“COVID had been over for years, however, FHA single family portfolio was dealing with the churn of borrowers continuously seeking loan modifications on their single-family mortgages. Two, three, four times,” Cassidy said. “And a lot of times it was because we didn’t have a policy in place to prevent that. We obviously want to help people when they fall behind on their mortgage. But by revising that, we gave clear guidance.”
Limiting it to two modifications will save the FHA insurance fund billions of dollars moving forward, he said.
According to Scotsman Guide, Cassidy also noted “the great work we did bringing competition to the credit scoring practices for single-family loans. Opening up competition will allow more Americans who have made rent payments on time to build a credit score and thus receive a FHA insured mortgage.”
HUD’s 232 program, which provided mortgage insurance for healthcare facilities, is an area he said often is overlooked. At $40 billion, it’s only 2% compared to HUD’s $2 trillion portfolio.
Return to the Private Sector
“Having come from the industry and having originated those deals and met with those borrowers and walked these facilities, I understood the process,” he said.
Cassidy said that he is looking forward to spending more time with family, and re-entering the private sector to the commercial mortgage banking agency financing world.
When Scotsman Guide asked HUD what the agency’s plans are for its leadership going forward, a spokesperson responded: “The Office of Housing and Federal Housing Administration remain focused on advancing homeownership and the availability of affordable housing nationwide. Ginnie Mae President Joseph Gormley will continue to lead the office in an acting capacity, with an experienced leadership team in place.”
