The Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 (SF Handbook) is a consolidated, consistent, and comprehensive source of FHA Single Family Housing policy.

• Consolidated:  Hundreds of FHA Handbooks, Mortgagee Letters, Housing Notices, and other policy documents have been consolidated into this single source. This eliminates the need for mortgagees and other stakeholders in FHA transactions to search through multiple stand-alone policy documents to find precise and current policy information.
   
• Consistent:  The SF Handbook’s consistent format of “Definition, Standard, and Documentation” supports greater understanding, easier use, and a better source for mortgagees to extend the wide range of FHA products and programs across a broader spectrum of eligible borrowers.
   
• Comprehensive:  The SF Handbook is well on its way to becoming a comprehensive source of Single Family Housing policy.  While not yet complete, the SF Handbook currently has everything a lending entity needs to become FHA approved; to originate and receive an FHA insurance endorsement; to service; and to adhere to FHA’s quality control policies for almost all Title II forward mortgages—the bulk of FHA volume.

Two Ways to Access the SF Handbook

Stakeholders and the public can access the SF Handbook’s published sections in two ways:

• FHA’s Online Housing Policy Library, which contains: a fully searchable, online version of the SF Handbook; a growing collection of supplemental documents; superseded Mortgagee Letters and other policy documents; and active Mortgagee Letters for policy not yet incorporated into the SF Handbook
   
• The SF Handbook in portable document format (PDF):  a linear format similar to traditional FHA Handbooks, but with enhanced links, format, and structure to provide a comprehensive beginning-to-end view of FHA's published policies.

SF Handbook Supplemental Documents and Model Documents

Policy information referenced in, but supplemental to the SF Handbook can always be found online:

• FHA’s SF Handbook Supplemental Documents page contains the guides and other documents referenced in the SF Handbook, such as the Single Family Housing Appraisal Report and Data Delivery Guide, the Claim Filing Technical Guide, and the Single Family Default Monitoring System Reporting Codes.
   
• Model Documents and 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage Insurance Program Sample Documents are accessible from FHA’s Model Documents and 203(k) Sample Documents web pages, respectively.

SF Handbook Organizational Structure

The SF Handbook’s organizational structure has five main categories that follow the logical flow of a mortgagee or lender’s process. Click on the graphic below to see an expanded view of the SF Handbook’s organizational structure or, click here to see where we are with our development work.