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HUD: what it means

HUD (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) is the federal department that runs housing and community development assistance programs and works to ensure fair and equal housing opportunity. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which insures mortgages made by private lenders, is part of HUD.

In Spanish it is

HUD

Also written as: HUD · U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Two women and a girl laugh together at the bus stop.

Verified on October 17, 2026

4 official sources

See the whole dictionary

The full explanation

HUD funds local public housing agencies (PHAs) that run public housing and Section 8 vouchers. It also approves housing counseling agencies across the country, and you can file a housing discrimination complaint with its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO).

An example

Julia wants to buy her first home and does not know where to start. On HUD's website, she looks up a HUD-approved housing counseling agency near her.

You will see it in…

FHA loans and your FHA mortgage paperwork
The search for HUD-approved housing counselors
Your PHA's public housing and Section 8 programs

Words that go with it

You will rarely see this word alone. These are the ones that show up with it on the same papers.

More guides that use “HUD”

Still confused by a paper?

A HUD-approved housing counselor can walk you through it. Agencies usually charge little or nothing, many work in Spanish, and they do not sell you anything.

What a housing counselor does See free help

Official sources

We sum up what these official sources say, in plain words. We add no rules they do not state; when a rule changes, the definition and its date change.

1. USAGov · U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
2. HUD · Helping Americans (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
3. CFPB · Mortgages key terms: HUD; FHA loan (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026
4. Legal Information Institute (Cornell Law School) · 42 U.S.C. § 3533: officers of the Department (Federal Housing Administration) (external site) · in English · Verified on October 17, 2026