the fha has taken great strides. i look forward to hearing from director thompson. >> today, we welcome the testimony of sondra l thompson. new will be recognized -- without objection, the written statement will be made as part of the written record. ms. thompson: thank you chairman mchenry, ranking member waters, and distinguished members of the committee, i am pleased to discuss the challenges facing our housing market. when i last appeared in july, i spoke about my career as a regulator. the safety of our regulated entities is a key component of all policy decisions. >> could you pull the mic closer to you? thank you very much? ms. thompson: when i appeared before this july i spoke about my career as a regulator. the safety and soundness is a key component of all policy decisions and actions we take. the enterprises and home loan bank system cannot achieve the mission without a continued safety on -- as you know, home prices have soared in recent years and mortgage interest rates are higher than they have been. in

last week we had housing insurance, i discussed, fha, fa-fha's proposal of waiving title insurance requirementsd acting as title insurer in the lending organization. title insurance is a primary market function and gse cannot belong in a private market and disturbing to think that fannie mae or freddie mac might display title insurance. would you agree that fannie and fray have no place to offering title insurancece project? >> i have not. fhsa is not pushing that and i have not seen that proposal and we would have to evaluate anything on the merits and soundness of the enterprises and borrowers. >> so you don't think that -- you broughtyo up letters. that -- well,k what do you think about the proposal? would you agree with the proposal if fannie and freddie want today waive title insurance? >> safe and sound. i would evaluate that on the merits. i haven't seen it. >> i wouldn't think it's safe and sound. i was a practicing attorney. thank godse for them, some of those closings and a lot of homeowners, a lot of grief by going through the title insurance policy. sound proposal and i hope if anyt

we recognize that target the role of fha and the taxpayer-funded backstop. it's an important complement to private mi work particularly those who may not have access to the conventional market but that government agency backed by taxpayers cost of capitol required capitol levels is significantly different than those in the private-sector. policymakers should permit promote consistent and coordinated -- that prevents undue competition between different programs in the private-sector. private capitol is needlessly crowd of the marketplace by government-backed programs and leads to increased risk to the taxpayer. in the conventional market that programs can shift risk to the taxpayers who would otherwise be formed by private capitol. fhfa finalized a rule on approval of products which members of this committee take an interest. we believe papal invitation results in proper oversight and more transparent process for approving new products. one other area of concern is recently proposed basel iii in game resolution. members of this committee of rightly observed t

this committee must venture the fha's resources and tools they need to effectively conduct investigations, artist and enforce action. as always with two remain vigilant to make sure something like this accident, the likelihood of this accident happening is decreased substantially. on january 5 to 737 max and ask it was terrifying to everybody on board but thanks to call and professional actions of the flight crew at once landed safely. i fully support the fac cites a response to the action which included grounding the effective max nine fleet, a separate investigation into whether boeing delivered a noncompliant aircraft to its customer, and overarching audit of boeing's max production line and suppliers, and a probation an increasing boeing 73737 max production rate until its quality control issues are resolved. unfortunately it's of the first and we see an aircraft falling in recent history. may 21 we wrote to the department of the faa and to point with concerns about no less than nine reports of quality control issues and boeing production facilities. since then there been dozens more

to try to boost homeownership especially for first time buyers the federal government does offer fhactors involved. thank you. thank you. now the nationwide substitute teacher shortage. schools across the country are struggling to find replacements when teachers call in sick. morgan norwood is there with that story. good morning, morgan. >> reporter: good morning, robin. it was challenging before the pandemic. then covid turned around and made it a crisis. right? so districts have been waving the help wanted signs. many say it is becoming a lot harder to get backups in the door. this morning the nationwide substitute teacher shortage intensifying with many schools from coast to coast scrambling to find fill ins. >> in some instances, district has 2700 teachers we may have as much as 300 teachers who are out each day. >> reporter: according to the bureau of labor statistics while demand has traditionally exceeded supply for substitute teachers because of the pandemic, 20% of requests for fill ins have gone unfilled. many districts lean on substitutes to help vacant teaching positions.

fha and va refis were hit hardest.s with rates higher than today that could benefit. applications for a mortgage to buy a home dropped 5% for the week and were 12% lower year over year. interesting on the purchase side, though, the mba is showing applications for a mortgage to buy a newly built home in january were up 19% from a year ago, big difference. so, a lot of that is the builders buying down the interest rates on the mortgage for their customers. also, rates in january did have a six handle, but, still, it is a really big difference between the new and the existing market and that's because there is an 8-month supply of new homes and 3-month supply of existing homes. i spoke with a mortgage broker yesterday who said he had lots of people looking to get prequalified for a mortgage, just not a lot of homes going under contract. so, it is not for lack of demand, joe. >> so, when we're trying to gauge where we are, with all the cross currents, people always bring up housing as the one area where if you were to, you

it's my understanding fha is working to implement the provision and establish the federal working groupbut it still is not move can you provide context on this weight investigate this important issue work with your team to implement the working group on resources? >> think you representative. i was actually in arizona last week for wildlife crossing announcement at the broadway curve office. an absolutely on the act director also mentioned the eye 10 project to me. i will absolutely work with you on this and getting that stood up too. >> the act is important it is been slow to move we need to get it done but thank you for investing that in getting back to my office i'm short on time. going to end on another success the build out light rail infrastructure in the belly especially the northwest expansion phase two project is to be mayor phoenix we put on the ballot support for a light rail and other public transportation improvements back in 2015 it passed overwhelmingly. my own reelection happening on the same belt and we one as well so was a good day in phoenix and that's coming to for r