HUD raises Section 184 loan guarantee fee for Native American homebuyers

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will raise the upfront loan guarantee fee of the Section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee Program from 1.00 to 1.50 percent for every new Firm Commitment issued on or after 1 October 2026. The increase is set out in a notice from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, published in the Federal Register of Monday, 28 September 2026 under FR Doc. 2026–19782 and Docket No. FR–6612–N–01.

Section 184 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102–550, approved 28 October 1992), as amended, created the program to open sources of private mortgage financing to Indian families, Indian housing authorities and Indian tribes. It addresses obstacles to mortgage financing on trust land and in other Indian and Alaska Native areas by giving HUD the authority to guarantee loans to eligible persons and entities to construct, acquire, refinance or rehabilitate one- to four-family dwellings.

The program is funded by a combination of annual appropriations and upfront and annual fees collected from the borrower. HUD states that the increase is needed to keep the program self-sustaining, notes that its default rate has been approximately 3.50 percent over the life of the program, and argues that this performance allows it to remove the need for annual appropriations from Congress through a “modest fee increase”.

What changes on 1 October 2026

• Upfront loan guarantee fee for all new Section 184 Firm Commitments, including refinances: from 1.00 to 1.50 percent.
• Upfront loan guarantee fee for all new Section 184 Skilled Workers Demonstration Program Firm Commitments: from 0 to 1.00 percent.
• Annual loan guarantee fee: unchanged at zero for all Section 184 loans.
• Scope: the increase applies only to new Firm Commitments issued by HUD on or after 1 October 2026; loans already guaranteed by the program are not affected.

Legal basis and fee ceilings

HUD acts under 12 U.S.C. 1715z–13a(d) and 24 CFR 1005.603, which authorise an upfront loan guarantee fee of no more than 3.00 percent of the principal obligation of the loan and an annual loan guarantee fee of no more than 1.00 percent of the remaining guaranteed balance. The new 1.50 percent upfront charge therefore remains within the statutory ceiling.

A decade of fee changes

• 5 March 2014: upfront fee raised from 1.00 to 1.50 percent (79 FR 12520), effective 4 April 2014.
• 7 October 2014: annual fee of 0.15 percent introduced (79 FR 60492), effective 15 November 2014.
• 1 November 2016: annual fee raised from 0.15 to 0.25 percent (81 FR 75836), effective 1 December 2016.
• 4 May 2023: upfront fee cut from 1.50 to 1.00 percent and the annual fee eliminated (88 FR 28598), effective 1 July 2023.

Contact and environmental review

The notice names Tonya R. Plummer, Director, Office of Loan Guarantee, Office of Native American Programs, Office of Public and Indian Housing, as the contact for further information, and is signed by Benjamin Hobbs, Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. HUD states that the document establishes a rate or cost determination that does not constitute a development decision affecting the physical condition of specific project areas or building sites, and that it is accordingly categorically excluded from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321) pursuant to 24 CFR 50.19(c)(6).

Because the upfront fee is collected from the borrower, the half-point increase is paid at closing rather than spread over the life of the loan, while the annual fee remains at zero. The notice reverses part of the 2023 reduction and raises the entry cost of a federally guaranteed mortgage on trust land and in other Indian and Alaska Native areas for commitments signed from 1 October 2026 onward.

Source: Federal Register, Vol. 91, No. 186, 28 September 2026, Notices, p. 61245 (official reference: FR Doc. 2026–19782).