Darby v. Cisneros, 509 U.S. 137, 3 (1993)

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Cite as: 509 U. S. 137 (1993)

Opinion of the Court

I

Petitioner R. Gordon Darby 2 is a self-employed South Carolina real estate developer who specializes in the development and management of multifamily rental projects. In the early 1980's, he began working with Lonnie Garvin, Jr., a mortgage banker, who had developed a plan to enable multifamily developers to obtain single-family mortgage insurance from respondent Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Respondent Secretary of HUD (Secretary) is authorized to provide single-family mortgage insurance under § 203(b) of the National Housing Act, 48 Stat. 1249, as amended, 12 U. S. C. § 1709(b).3 Although HUD also provides mortgage insurance for multifamily projects under § 207 of the National Housing Act, 12 U. S. C. § 1713, the greater degree of oversight and control over such projects makes it less attractive for investors than the single-family mortgage insurance option.

The principal advantage of Garvin's plan was that it promised to avoid HUD's "Rule of Seven." This rule prevented rental properties from receiving single-family mortgage insurance if the mortgagor already had financial interests in seven or more similar rental properties in the same project

ral. The version of § 10(c) as currently enacted, however, uses the singular "reconsideration." See this note, supra, at 138. We quote the text as enacted in the Statutes at Large. See Stephan v. United States, 319 U. S. 423, 426 (1943) ("[T]he Code cannot prevail over the Statutes at Large when the two are inconsistent").

2 Petitioners include R. Gordon Darby and his affiliate companies: Darby Development Company; Darby Realty Company; Darby Management Company, Inc.; MD Investment; Parkbrook Acres Associates; and Park-brook Developers.

3 Although the primary purpose of the § 203(b) insurance program was to facilitate home ownership by owner-occupants, investors were permitted in the early 1980's to obtain single-family insurance under certain conditions. Private investor-owners are no longer eligible for single-family mortgage insurance. See Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989, § 143(b), 103 Stat. 2036.

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