Rising mortgage rates, low inventory, and inflated home prices has made affordable housing out of reach for most. New Federal Housing Administration (FHA) commissioner Julia Gordon hopes to help people achieve homeownership and retain it.

Last month, 516,000 new single-family homes were listed, a drastic comparison to May 2019’s 1.3 million. The shortage and lack of affordability has Gordon looking at other housing solutions as well as what happens to FHA-backed homes that go into foreclosure.

“‘We need to look at alternatives: tiny houses, ADUs (accessory dwelling units), manufactured houses, and rehabbing existing houses,” she says.

Gordon says her work at the National Community Stabilization Trust, a nonprofit organization that rehabilitates and restores abandoned and vacant homes, has prepared her for tackling at least part of the affordable housing shortage. The FHA also has renovation mortgages that help people purchase lower-cost, fixer-uppers.

Unlike private lenders, the FHA isn’t beholden to business cycles and can take “risks that private lenders won’t,” Gordon says.”