Ensuring Homeowner and Occupant Monetary Encouragement and Stability Act or the Ensuring HOMES Act
This bill sets forth additional housing protections during the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency period.
Mortgage holders and lenders are prohibited from requiring payment on a mortgage deferred during the COVID-19 emergency period until the later of (1) the last day of the loan term, or (2) the end of the deferral period.
The bill establishes the Tenant Protection Program that provides loans to landlords who waive rent during the COVID-19 emergency period. The bill also provides for forgiveness of these loans if the landlord provides lease extensions and agrees not to evict tenants.
This bill applies retroactively to the beginning of the COVID-19 emergency period and applies to any future declared COVID-19 emergency period.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6492 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6492
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
April 14, 2020
Mr. Rush (for himself, Mr. Hastings, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mrs.
Napolitano, Mr. McNerney, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Judy Chu of
California, Ms. Bass, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Soto, Mr.
Cisneros, Mrs. Hayes, Ms. Tlaib, and Ms. Norton) 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 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Ensuring Homeowner and Occupant
Monetary Encouragement and Stability Act'' or the ``Ensuring HOMES
Act''.
SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF DEFERRED RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE PAYMENTS.
(a) In General.--With respect to any payments of principal or
interest on a residential mortgage loan that are deferred during a
COVID-19 emergency period (whether pursuant to Federal law or
otherwise), the applicable holder or servicer of such loan may not
require such payments to be due until the later of--
(1) the last day of the loan term; or
(2) the end of the deferral period.
(b) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed
as prohibiting a borrower from making payments on a loan before the
date specified under subsection (a).
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Residential mortgage loan.--The term ``residential
mortgage loan'' means any loan which is secured by residential
real property designed principally for the occupancy of
families, regardless of the number of families by which the
real property is designed to be occupied.
(2) COVID-19 emergency period.--The term ``COVID-19
emergency period'' means the period that--
(A) begins upon a date that the President declares
an emergency under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et
seq.) relating to a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic; and
(B) ends upon the date of the termination by the
Federal Emergency Management Administration of such
emergency declaration.
SEC. 3. TENANT PROTECTION PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall carry out a
program to be known as the Tenant Protection Program, under which the
Secretary shall make quarterly loans to landlords who waive rent owned
by tenants during the COVID-19 emergency period, in accordance with
this section.
(b) Loan Details.--
(1) Loan amount.--A loan provided under this section shall
be in an amount equal to no more than half of the amount of
rent that a landlord anticipates waiving during the applicable
quarter.
(2) Fees; interest.--The Secretary may not charge any fee
in connection with a loan made under this section and may not
charge interest on any such loan in an amount greater than 4
percent.
(c) Loan Forgiveness.--The Secretary shall forgive any loan made
under this section to a landlord if--
(1) the landlord permits each tenant of the landlord to
extend any lease until the date that is 60 days after the end
of the COVID-19 emergency period, if such lease would have
terminated before such date; and
(2) the landlord enters into an agreement with the
Secretary under which the landlord will not evict any tenant
until the date that is 60 days after the end of the COVID-19
emergency period.
(d) COVID-19 Emergency Period Defined.--In this section, the term
``COVID-19 emergency period'' has the meaning given that term under
section 2.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary such sums as may be necessary to carry
out this section.
SEC. 4. RULES OF APPLICATION.
(a) Application to Existing and New Emergencies.--This Act shall
apply to a COVID-19 emergency period (as defined under section 2) in
existence on the date of enactment of this Act or beginning after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Retroactive Effect.--With respect to the COVID-19 emergency
period in existence on the date of enactment of this Act, the
provisions of this Act shall apply retroactively to actions taken
beginning on the first day of such emergency period.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
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