PHFA director outlines financing tools, urges scale and community‑driven use of FAIR funds

Robin Weissman, Executive Director and CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, told the House Housing & Community Development Committee on an informational panel that PHFA uses bond markets and multiple state and federal funding streams to finance homeownership, preserve and develop affordable rental housing, and prevent foreclosures.

Weissman said PHFA does not receive direct General Fund appropriations for its core lending operations and instead issues bonds in the public capital markets tied to the mortgage pools the agency underwrites. “We sell them very frequently. Historically … 2 or 3 times a year… we’ve been in the market 4 times last year, and we expect to be in the market 4 times this year,” she said.

The agency’s single‑family work centers on fixed‑rate, 30‑year mortgages for primarily first‑time buyers and includes down‑payment and closing‑cost assistance through the Keystone Forgivable in 10 (KFIT) program, which Weissman described as a priorit y for removing barriers to homeownership. PHFA also operates foreclosure prevention through the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), administered for more than 40 years. HEMAP is a loan program with monthly…