The Federal Housing Administration, a Depression-era government agency that found renewed purpose in the current economic downturn, soon could need the same kind of taxpayer help that private lenders received when the housing market tanked.

An independent annual audit of the federal mortgage-loan insurer was delayed Wednesday, and fears are growing that the agency's capital reserve ratio has fallen below a congressionally mandated 2 percent. Nick Timiraos of The Wall Street Journal offers an interesting look at how the FHA went from a small-time player in the mortgage world a few years ago to one of the biggest drivers in the slowly recovering housing market. Read his story here.