Ensuring HOMES Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 152 To require any payments of principal or interest on a residential mortgage loan that are deferred during a COVID–19 emergency period to be due no earlier than the last day of the loan term, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 4, 2021 Mr. RUSH (for himself, Mr. COOPER, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. KIL- DEE, Mr. MFUME, Ms. NORTON, Mr. POCAN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SCHA- KOWSKY, and Mr. SIRES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To require any payments of principal or interest on a resi- dential mortgage loan that are deferred during a COVID–19 emergency period to be due no earlier than the last day of the loan term, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Homeowner 4 and Occupant Monetary Encouragement and Stability 5 Act’’ or the ‘‘Ensuring HOMES Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H152.IH H152 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 152 IH SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF DEFERRED RESIDENTIAL MORT- 1 GAGE PAYMENTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any payments of 3 principal or interest on a residential mortgage loan that 4 are deferred during a COVID–19 emergency period 5 (whether pursuant to Federal law or otherwise), the appli- 6 cable holder or servicer of such loan may not require such 7 payments to be due until the later of— 8 (1) the last day of the loan term; or 9 (2) the end of the deferral period. 10 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 11 tion may be construed as prohibiting a borrower from 12 making payments on a loan before the date specified under 13 subsection (a). 14 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 15 (1) RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN.—The term 16 ‘‘residential mortgage loan’’ means any loan which is 17 secured by residential real property designed prin- 18 cipally for the occupancy of families, regardless of 19 the number of families by which the real property is 20 designed to be occupied. 21 (2) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The 22 term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ means the pe- 23 riod that— 24 (A) begins upon a date that the President 25 declares an emergency under the Robert T. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H152.IH H152 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 152 IH Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 1 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to 2 a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pan- 3 demic; and 4 (B) ends upon the date of the termination 5 by the Federal Emergency Management Admin- 6 istration of such emergency declaration. 7 SEC. 3. TENANT PROTECTION PROGRAM. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 9 Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 10 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall carry out a program to be known as 11 the Tenant Protection Program, under which the Sec- 12 retary shall make quarterly loans to landlords who waive 13 rent owned by tenants during the COVID–19 emergency 14 period, in accordance with this section. 15 (b) LOAN DETAILS.— 16 (1) LOAN AMOUNT.—A loan provided under 17 this section shall be in an amount equal to no more 18 than half of the amount of rent that a landlord an- 19 ticipates waiving during the applicable quarter. 20 (2) FEES; INTEREST.—The Secretary may not 21 charge any fee in connection with a loan made under 22 this section and may not charge interest on any such 23 loan in an amount greater than 4 percent. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H152.IH H152 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 152 IH (c) LOAN FORGIVENESS.—The Secretary shall for- 1 give any loan made under this section to a landlord if— 2 (1) the landlord permits each tenant of the 3 landlord to extend any lease until the date that is 4 60 days after the end of the COVID–19 emergency 5 period, if such lease would have terminated before 6 such date; and 7 (2) the landlord enters into an agreement with 8 the Secretary under which the landlord will not evict 9 any tenant until the date that is 60 days after the 10 end of the COVID–19 emergency period. 11 (d) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD DEFINED.—In 12 this section, the term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ has 13 the meaning given that term under section 2. 14 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 15 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 16 sums as may be necessary to carry out this section. 17 SEC. 4. RULES OF APPLICATION. 18 (a) APPLICATION TO EXISTING AND NEW EMER- 19 GENCIES.—This Act shall apply to a COVID–19 emer- 20 gency period (as defined under section 2) in existence on 21 the date of enactment of this Act or beginning after the 22 date of enactment of this Act. 23 (b) RETROACTIVE EFFECT.—With respect to the 24 COVID–19 emergency period in existence on the date of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H152.IH H152 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 152 IH enactment of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall 1 apply retroactively to actions taken beginning on the first 2 day of such emergency period. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:22 Jan 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H152.IH H152 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS