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Ever year since 9-11, Gate House Chairman and Co-Founder Brian Montgomery has delivered remarks reflecting on his experience on 9-11, when he was traveling with President George W. Bush on that fateful day. For the 20th anniversary of 9-11, Montgomery joined Brigitte Quinn of 1010 Wins to reflect on that harrowing day in history, providing an inside account of the long hours, long day, and several long weeks for White House senior staff as the nation adjusted to a new world in the wake of the terrorist attack.
Montgomery shared what is was like to be part of the White House team during those moments, as the priorities of the Administration and the country shifted overnight. He recalled how the focus of the Bush Presidency turned decisively from all other priorities to one, keeping America safe. He reflected on how Americans came together as one nation, united against a common enemy. When he visited Ground Zero with President Bush just days after 9-11, as an example, Montgomery recalled fondly people lining the streets, holding candles and applauding as the President’s motorcade passed through New York City.
Gate House Chairman Brian Montgomery recently spoke with Chris Clow of Reverse Mortgage Daily to discuss HUD’s reverse mortgage (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage or “HECM”) program and the impact of that program in the recent budget request. The growth in the Secretary-held HECM portfolio which has been significant in recent years, and the challenges presented to servicing that portfolio, likely contribute to the Biden Administration requesting an additional $50 million in its budget request.
“Due to the structure of the program,” Montgomery said, “the Secretary-held portfolio has grown significantly in the last 5 years (approximately 150,000 loans), and it keeps growing.”
Montgomery, who led FHA twice under three presidents and recently served as Deputy Secretary of HUD, added that “This process requires a highly competent Servicer to handle a highly complex product for one of HUD’s key constituents — seniors.”
Happy Friday. After completing a remarkable first two weeks for Gate House Strategies, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone with whom we’ve had the pleasure of engaging and many others who have been in touch.
Already, the firm has forged meaningful partnerships with longtime colleagues in the housing market and beyond, rekindled relationships that we believe will help the industry resolve critical and timely policy challenges (some age-old and others arising out of the pandemic), and been contacted by numerous others whose unique goals and enterprises portend well for future relationships with our firm.
We are hard at work discovering paths forward, finding new avenues for success – merging the unique expertise and perspective within the industry with our knowledge, experience, and relationships, forming coalitions of key allies, and leveraging it all to achieve results.
Now while that’s a mouthful after just two-and-a-half weeks, as we tried to convey at the launch we are on a mission to assist our clients’ efforts to build, to innovate, and to grow — to add to the long tradition and commitment to a strong and vibrant financial services and housing market that serves the interest of all Americans.
A few days after announcing this venture, I was on a plane to Jacksonville, FL to attend the Mortgage Bankers Association of Georgia (MBAG) annual conference, the first in-person event I have attended in over 14 months and one rescheduled twice last year (and I suspect the same for the other attendees).
Suffice it to say we were all incredibly excited to come together once again like real, non-virtual people, to see one another, and to begin to share ideas again amidst a sure sign that things are starting to get back to normal. The excitement was palpable and it warmed the heart to see close friends and colleagues see each other face-to-face for the first time in many, many months.
The next morning, Rob Chrisman and I conducted a panel together, and we could feel the readiness to look ahead and to build upon what was an extraordinary year in housing. Just before we walked on stage Rob turned to me and whispered, “I have the hiccups!”
Perhaps it was the perfect metaphor for involuntary, seemingly inexplicable contractions of the COVID-19 era that require creative, innovative solutions in front of a live audience.
Without missing a beat, our moderator (upon hearing a hiccup) declared she had a sure-fire cure that never fails. She rose up and walked over to Rob imploring him to stand up and raise his arms high above his head. She asked for a glass of water but saw one on the podium (Note: it was mine from the previous session which I did sip from (sorry Rob)). The moderator then held the glass and told Rob to tilt his head back and keep drinking but to wave his hands when he had enough. I immediately thought of waterboarding but Rob kept chugging before giving the audience his version of “jazz hands.” And it worked much to the audiences laughter!
We had a great session and can’t wait to do it again soon. (And thank you, Rob, for the shout-out on your unmatched-in-influence blog about Gate House as “the new kid on the block.”)
But getting back to business, we are hearing from a lot of people, new and old, who are seeing the challenges we are seeing and who are looking for the best solutions, working to position themselves to both take advantage of new opportunities this year has in store and looking beyond the pandemic to strategies that will achieve the mission.
Again, we are looking forward to it all and can’t wait to help our partners navigate this journey ahead.
–Brian Montgomery, Chairman and Founding Partner, Gate House Strategies
Few issues are more salient to the challenges our country faces today than the shortage of decent, safe, affordable housing.
As became abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, our homes are the foundation of much of our lives, they have a profound effect on our health and well-being, and impact our education and productivity, as well as our ability to take advantage of opportunities in a free country.
As the coronavirus forced Americans to use their homes as safe havens, offices, and classrooms, it also put increased pressure on public and private housing markets that were already undersupplied and putting greater numbers of vulnerable citizens at risk.
And as the nation focuses on fairness and equity throughout our society and economy, it is evident that housing is integral to that fabric of American life, and, ultimately, the belief that everyone has a stake in its success.
Both in response to COVID-19 and in the Administration’s focus on infrastructure, we are seeing an unprecedented increase in funding for affordable housing.
The latest round of COVID-19 funding included over $46 billion for rental assistance, funds that will help individuals and families either get back on their feet or simply maintain life without the stress of whether there will be a roof overhead.
There is another staggering $200 billion being proposed in Washington through increase in the budget and infrastructure.
All of this is presenting tremendous possibilities, providing potential new funding sources for communities, developers, and public housing authorities. The increase in the Capital Fund for public housing authorities, for example, presents both private public sector partners with enormous opportunities over the next few years to improve the current affordable housing stock and to expand it as well.
These opportunities are coupled with enormous challenges to get it right in order to make a lasting impact on the lives of millions of people. We are already hearing the frustrations with trying to deploy this kind of money in a short period of time. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission gave notice to the largest landlords this week that the rules and tenant rights will need to be followed.
We have new and more administrative hurdles to spending this funding quickly and wisely. Stakeholders are going to need assistance to ensure they are following the rules and deploying the funds in an effective and efficient manner, a manner that not only helps the people intended to be helped but also ensure funds are spent in a timely fashion.
The timing of deploying funds will determine the ability of individuals, families, and communities to more fully recover and achieve goals that will impact their lives for many years.
-Hunter Kurtz, Vice Chairman and Founding Partner, Gate House Strategies