Summary
President Donald Trump has nominated Matthew Jones to serve as HUD assistant secretary for housing and FHA commissioner, subject to Senate confirmation. Jones already oversees FHA's single-family operations, including more than eight million insured loans with over $1.6 trillion in unpaid principal balance. His mortgage-industry, Senate and HUD background puts an experienced housing-finance policymaker in line to lead FHA during major credit-scoring, servicing and affordability changes.
President Donald Trump has nominated Matthew Jones to serve as assistant secretary for housing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, a position that carries the responsibilities of commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration.
The nomination, sent to the Senate this week, would elevate an official already responsible for much of FHA’s single-family mortgage operation. Jones has served as HUD’s deputy assistant secretary for single-family housing since 2025, overseeing an FHA insurance-in-force portfolio of more than eight million loans with more than $1.6 trillion in unpaid principal balance at the end of fiscal 2025.
The Senate must confirm Jones before he takes the permanent role.
“Matt brings an impressive combination of hands-on mortgage industry experience, deep knowledge of government housing finance, and a strong understanding of how FHA programs can better serve homebuyers, renters, and lenders.”
Bob Broeksmit, CMB, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association
The Mortgage Bankers Association endorsed the nomination Tuesday. The National Council of State Housing Agencies also urged Senate confirmation, citing Jones’ housing-policy and mortgage-industry background.
From mortgage originator to FHA policymaker
Jones’ résumé cuts across mortgage production, trade-association advocacy and federal policy. Before joining HUD, he served as MBA’s associate vice president for government housing finance, where he oversaw the association’s government lending portfolio and managed its Residential Board of Governors.
He previously worked as a senior adviser for capital markets at Amerifirst Home Mortgage and began his career as a mortgage loan originator. From 2017 through 2021, he served as senior counsel to the Senate Banking and Senate Finance committees under Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, working on legislation including the CARES Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.
At HUD, Jones currently manages single-family origination and servicing policy, quality control and lender enforcement, institutional risk management and technology strategy. That makes the nomination less a handoff to an outsider than an expansion of authority for an official already involved in the agency’s operating decisions.
The policy stakes are unusually high
If confirmed, Jones would inherit an FHA agenda with direct implications for lenders, servicers, appraisers and borrowers.
HUD has been moving toward broader use of newer credit-scoring models. FHA is preparing to permit VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T in mortgage underwriting, with lender implementation beginning in January 2027. The agency has also been revisiting appraisal and servicing requirements while the mortgage industry continues to press for lower costs and simpler program administration.
Jones has already been part of those conversations. In his current role, he has discussed FHA loss mitigation, credit scoring, valuation technology and potential changes to the agency’s anti-flipping rule with industry groups.
His current single-family portfolio alone illustrates the scale of the job: more than eight million insured loans and more than $1.6 trillion in unpaid principal balance. The assistant secretary position also reaches beyond single-family lending into FHA’s broader housing responsibilities.
State housing finance agencies have a particular stake in the appointment. NCSHA said more than half of all HFA single-family loans originated in 2025 were FHA-insured, helping nearly 79,000 households purchase homes. It said FHA risk-sharing with state HFAs financed nearly 800 affordable multifamily projects containing more than 90,000 apartments from 2016 through 2025.
What lenders should watch
Confirmation would put a former MBA government-finance executive at the top of FHA while lenders are adapting to new credit models and a difficult affordability environment. That background may make Jones unusually familiar with the operational consequences of policy changes, but it does not predetermine how he would resolve debates over mortgage insurance premiums, servicing rules, appraisal policy or lender enforcement.
Those decisions matter more as conventional borrowing costs remain elevated and government-backed financing carries a larger share of some parts of the purchase market. MBA’s August Builder Application Survey, released Tuesday, showed FHA loans accounted for 35% of new-home purchase applications, the highest share in three months.
For now, Jones remains the nominee rather than the confirmed commissioner. The next formal step belongs to the Senate, where his record at HUD and his prior mortgage-industry roles will become the basis for deciding who leads one of the most consequential federal institutions in housing finance.
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