Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is putting his foot down on further premium increases.

“We do not need changes that would increase the cost of FHA mortgages for new borrowers or threaten the housing recovery we are seeing,” he said.

Donovan told attendees of the Mortgage Bankers Association conference that the Federal Housing Administration fund has roughly a $4 billion surplus.

“You can see that we have taken the responsible steps necessary on our forward program to protect” the FHA mortgage insurance fund.

Additionally, the HUD secretary stressed that more needs to be done to shore up the FHA reverse mortgage program.