SPECIAL FOCUS: FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION
APARTMENT FINANCE TODAY • SEPTEMBER 2007
Invisible Men
By Jerry Ascierto
The Federal Housing
Administration (FHA) would not
make officials available for this article
despite repeated attempts by
APARTMENT FINANCE TODAY magazine to
secure interviews.
When work on this article began,
Charles “Hank” Williams was the
deputy assistant secretary (DAS) running
the FHA’s multifamily operations.
Beginning April 24, and every week
for three months, APARTMENT FINANCE
TODAY e-mailed or called HUD’s public
relations staff requesting to interview
Williams, and each time was told the
agency was working on the request.
When an interview with Williams
was approved, he left the agency to
work for Wells Fargo Multifamily
Capital before an interview could be
scheduled. That was June 15. Six
weeks later, APARTMENT FINANCE TODAY
was waiting to hear about the possibility
of interviewing his successor,
acting DAS John Garvin. In his previous
position, Garvin served as senior
adviser to the FHA’s Assistant
Secretary for Housing/Federal
Housing Commissioner, Brian
Montgomery.
Williams had only been DAS for
multifamily since 2005, replacing
Stillman Knight, who also had a brief,
two-year stint.
The FHA has not had consistent
leadership from experienced housing
experts. When Brian Montgomery
began his tenure, his appointment
was criticized by many lenders due to
his lack of any real-world experience
in housing finance, other than a fiveyear
stint as a public relations director
for the Texas Department of
Housing and Community Affairs.
Montgomery, who holds a degree
in political science, replaced John
Weicher, an economist who held the
position from June 2001 to June
2005. Weicher served at HUD under
two previous administrations, mostly
in policy-development roles, before
being appointed by President Bush in
2001.
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