Puerto Rico Mortgage Bankers Association Focused on a Housing Finance Comeback

From left, Joaquin Tremols - Deputy Director Single Family Housing Guaranteed, USDA Rural Development; Dan Rogers III, HUD Regional Homeownership Center Director; Vicki Vidal - Senior Vice President, Black Knight Financial Services; Silvio Lopez - incoming president, MBA of PR; Bill Cosgrove - Chairman of MBA of America; Agustin Rojo - President of MBA of PR.

Nearly 200 members of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Puerto Rico attended their June annual convention that included a variety of educational workshops on topics from FHA updates, condominium guidelines, updates, and local housing programs and policies.

This annual event is a key venue for HUD to interact with stakeholders, non-profits, affordable housing developers, and local housing agencies. HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. was a keynote speaker for this event; other HUD keynote speakers that also participated are Atlanta Homeownership Center Director Dan Rogers III and San Juan Field Office Director Efraín Maldonado.

This year's convention was especially significant for Arturo Carrión, who received the "MBAPR Lifetime Achievement Award." For thirty years Carrión, who recently retired, served as Executive Vice-President of the Puerto Rico Banker's Association. For twenty-two years he was key to the Puerto Rico Annual Housing Congress, and with it, he helped shape the housing industry and served as platform for important HUD initiatives. Mr. Carrión received a certificate signed by HUD Secretary Julián Castro that recognized his contributions to the housing industry in Puerto Rico.

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