HELPER Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3170 To amend the National Housing Act to establish a mortgage insurance program for first responders, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 10, 2023 Mr. RUTHERFORD (for himself and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To amend the National Housing Act to establish a mortgage insurance program for first responders, 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 ‘‘Homes for Every Local 4 Protector, Educator, and Responder Act of 2023’’ or the 5 ‘‘HELPER Act of 2023’’. 6 SEC. 2. FHA MORTGAGE INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR MORT- 7 GAGES FOR FIRST RESPONDERS. 8 Section 203 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 9 1709) is amended by adding at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3170 IH ‘‘(z) FHA MORTGAGE INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR 1 MORTGAGES FOR FIRST RESPONDERS.— 2 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 3 ‘‘(A) FIRST RESPONDER.—The term ‘first 4 responder’ means an individual who is, as at- 5 tested by the individual— 6 ‘‘(i)(I) employed full-time by a law en- 7 forcement agency of the Federal Govern- 8 ment, a State, a Tribal government, or a 9 unit of general local government; and 10 ‘‘(II) in carrying out such full-time 11 employment, sworn to uphold, and make 12 arrests for violations of, Federal, State, 13 county, township, municipal, or Tribal 14 laws, or authorized by law to supervise 15 sentenced criminal offenders or individuals 16 with pending criminal charges; 17 ‘‘(ii) employed full-time as a fire- 18 fighter, paramedic, or emergency medical 19 technician by a fire department or emer- 20 gency medical services responder unit of 21 the Federal Government, a State, a Tribal 22 government, or a unit of general local gov- 23 ernment; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3170 IH ‘‘(iii) employed as a full-time teacher 1 by a State-accredited public school or pri- 2 vate school that provides direct services to 3 students in grades pre-kindergarten 4 through 12. 5 ‘‘(B) FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER.—The term 6 ‘first-time homebuyer’ has the meaning given 7 the term in section 104 of the Cranston-Gon- 8 zalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 9 U.S.C. 12704). 10 ‘‘(C) STATE.—The term ‘State’ has the 11 meaning given the term in section 201. 12 ‘‘(D) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 13 ‘Tribal government’ means the recognized gov- 14 erning body of any Indian or Alaska Native 15 tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, community, 16 component band, or component reservation, in- 17 dividually identified (including parenthetically) 18 in the list published most recently pursuant to 19 section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian 20 Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131). 21 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may, upon 22 application by a mortgagee, insure any mortgage eli- 23 gible for insurance under this subsection to an eligi- 24 ble mortgagor and, upon such terms and conditions 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3170 IH as the Secretary may prescribe, make commitments 1 for the insurance of such mortgages prior to the 2 date of their execution or disbursement. 3 ‘‘(3) MORTGAGE TERMS; MORTGAGE INSURANCE 4 PREMIUM.— 5 ‘‘(A) TERMS.— 6 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A mortgage in- 7 sured under this subsection shall— 8 ‘‘(I) be made to an eligible mort- 9 gagor; 10 ‘‘(II) comply with the require- 11 ments established under paragraphs 12 (1) through (7) of subsection (b); and 13 ‘‘(III) be used only to— 14 ‘‘(aa) purchase or repair a 15 1-family residence, including a 1- 16 family dwelling unit in a condo- 17 minium project, to serve as a 18 principal residence of the mort- 19 gagor, as attested by the mort- 20 gagor; or 21 ‘‘(bb) purchase a principal 22 residence of the mortgagor, as at- 23 tested by the mortgagor, which 24 is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3170 IH ‘‘(AA) a manufactured 1 home to be permanently af- 2 fixed to a lot that is owned 3 by the mortgagor and titled 4 as real property; or 5 ‘‘(BB) a manufactured 6 home and a lot to which the 7 home will be permanently 8 affixed that is titled as real 9 property. 10 ‘‘(ii) NO DOWN PAYMENT.—Notwith- 11 standing any provision to the contrary in 12 the matter following subsection (b)(2)(B) 13 with respect to first-time homebuyers— 14 ‘‘(I) the Secretary may insure 15 any mortgage that involves an original 16 principal obligation (including allow- 17 able charges and fees and the pre- 18 mium pursuant to subparagraph (B) 19 of this paragraph) in an amount not 20 to exceed 100 percent of the appraised 21 value of the property involved; and 22 ‘‘(II) the mortgagor of a mort- 23 gage described in subclause (I) shall 24 not be required to pay any amount, in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3170 IH cash or its equivalent, on account of 1 the property. 2 ‘‘(B) MORTGAGE INSURANCE PREMIUM.— 3 ‘‘(i) UP-FRONT PREMIUM.—The Sec- 4 retary shall establish and collect an insur- 5 ance premium in connection with mort- 6 gages insured under this subsection that is 7 a percentage of the original insured prin- 8 cipal obligation of the mortgage amount, 9 which shall be collected at the time and in 10 the manner provided under subsection 11 (c)(2)(A), except that the premiums col- 12 lected under this subparagraph— 13 ‘‘(I) may be in an amount that 14 exceeds 3 percent of the amount of 15 the original insured principal obliga- 16 tion of the mortgage; and 17 ‘‘(II) may be adjusted by the 18 Secretary from time to time by in- 19 creasing or decreasing such percent- 20 ages as the Secretary considers nec- 21 essary, based on the performance of 22 mortgages insured under this sub- 23 section and market conditions. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3170 IH ‘‘(ii) PROHIBITION OF MONTHLY PRE- 1 MIUMS.—A mortgage insured under this 2 subsection shall not be subject to a month- 3 ly insurance premium, including a pre- 4 mium under subsection (c)(2)(B). 5 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE MORTGAGORS.—The mortgagor 6 for a mortgage insured under this subsection shall, 7 at the time the mortgage is executed— 8 ‘‘(A) be a first-time homebuyer; 9 ‘‘(B) have completed a program of housing 10 counseling provided through a housing coun- 11 seling agency approved by the Secretary; 12 ‘‘(C) as attested by the mortgagor— 13 ‘‘(i) be employed as a first responder; 14 ‘‘(ii) have been— 15 ‘‘(I) employed as a first re- 16 sponder for not less than 4 of the 5 17 years preceding the date on which the 18 mortgagor submitted an application to 19 insure the mortgage under this sec- 20 tion; or 21 ‘‘(II) released from employment 22 as a first responder due to an occupa- 23 tion-connected disability resulting 24 from such duty or employment; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3170 IH ‘‘(iii) be in good standing as a first re- 1 sponder and not on probation or under in- 2 vestigation for conduct that, if determined 3 to have occurred, is grounds for termi- 4 nation of employment; 5 ‘‘(iv) in good faith intend to continue 6 as a first responder for not less than 1 7 year following the date of closing on the 8 mortgage; and 9 ‘‘(v) have previously never been the 10 mortgagor under a mortgage insured under 11 this subsection; 12 ‘‘(D) meet such requirements as the Sec- 13 retary shall establish to ensure that insurance 14 of the mortgage represents an acceptable risk to 15 the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund; and 16 ‘‘(E) meet such underwriting requirements 17 as the Secretary shall establish to meet actu- 18 arial objectives identified by the Secretary, 19 which may include avoiding a positive subsidy 20 rate or complying with the capital ratio require- 21 ment under section 205(f)(2). 22 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 23 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 24 the program under this subsection— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3170 IH ‘‘(A) $660,000 for fiscal year 2024, to re- 1 main available until expended; and 2 ‘‘(B) $160,000 for each of fiscal years 3 2025 through 2030, to remain available until 4 expended. 5 ‘‘(6) REAUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.—The au- 6 thority to enter into new commitments to insure 7 mortgages under this subsection shall expire on the 8 date that is 5 years after the date on which the Sec- 9 retary first makes available insurance for mortgages 10 under this subsection.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:59 May 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3170.IH H3170 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS