Federal Housing Administration

agency within the Department of Housing and Urban Development charged with assisting lower-income and nontraditional home buyers in financing home purchases. The FHA was created in 1934 to help out home buyers and the housing industry, which was devastated by the onset of the Great Depression. Today, the FHA fulfills its mission primarily through programs that provide, guarantee, or insure loans to first-time, lower-income, or nontraditional home buyers.