[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1276 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1276

      To provide downpayment assistance under the HOME Investment 
               Partnerships Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 13, 2003

 Ms. Harris (for herself, Mr. Rogers of Michigan, Mr. Oxley, Mr. Ney, 
Mr. Davis of Alabama, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Baker, Mr. Barrett of 
 South Carolina, Mr. Bereuter, Mrs. Biggert, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Castle, 
 Mr. Emanuel, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Ms. Hart, Mr. Jones 
of North Carolina, Mrs. Kelly, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Leach, Mr. Lewis of 
Kentucky, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Gary G. Miller of California, Mrs. Capito, 
 Mr. Renzi, Mr. Ryun of Kansas, Mr. Scott of Georgia, Mr. Shadegg, Mr. 
  Shays, Mr. Tiberi, and Mr. Wilson of South Carolina) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To provide downpayment assistance under the HOME Investment 
               Partnerships Act, 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 ``American Dream Downpayment Act''.

SEC. 2. DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE INITIATIVE UNDER HOME PROGRAM.

    (a) Downpayment Assistance Initiative.--Subtitle E of title II of 
the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12821) 
is amended to read as follows:

                     ``Subtitle E--Other Assistance

``SEC. 271. DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE INITIATIVE.

    ``(a) Grant Authority.--The Secretary may make grants to 
participating jurisdictions to assist low-income families to achieve 
homeownership, in accordance with this section.
    ``(b) Eligible Activities.--Amounts made available under this 
section may be used only for downpayment assistance toward the purchase 
of single family housing by low-income families who are first-time 
homebuyers. For purposes of this title, the term `downpayment 
assistance' means assistance to help a family acquire a principal 
residence.
    ``(c) Housing Strategy.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section for a fiscal year, a participating jurisdiction shall 
include in its comprehensive housing affordability strategy under 
section 105 for such year a description of the use of the grant 
amounts.
    ``(d) Formula Allocation.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary 
shall allocate any amounts made available for assistance under this 
section for the fiscal year in accordance with a formula, which shall 
be established by the Secretary, that considers a participating 
jurisdiction's need for and prior commitment to assistance to 
homebuyers. The formula may include minimum and maximum allocation 
amounts.
    ``(e) Reallocation.--If any amounts allocated to a participating 
jurisdiction under this section become available for reallocation, the 
amounts shall be reallocated to other participating jurisdictions in 
accordance with the formula established pursuant to subsection (c), 
except that if a local participating jurisdiction failed to receive 
amounts allocated under this section and is located in a State that is 
a participating jurisdiction, the funds shall be reallocated to the 
State.
    ``(f) Applicability of Other Provisions.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
        section, grants under this section shall not be subject to the 
        provisions of this title.
            ``(2) Applicable provisions.--In addition to the 
        requirements of this section, grants under this section shall 
        be subject to the provisions of title I, sections 215(b), 218, 
        219, 221, 223, 224, and 226(a) of subtitle A of this title, and 
        subtitle F of this title.
            ``(3) References.--In applying the requirements of subtitle 
        A referred to in paragraph (2)--
                    ``(A) any references to funds under subtitle A 
                shall be considered to refer to amounts made available 
                for assistance under this section; and
                    ``(B) any references to funds allocated or 
                reallocated under section 217 or 217(d) shall be 
                considered to refer to amounts allocated or reallocated 
                under subsection (d) or (e) of this section, 
                respectively.
    ``(g) Administrative Costs.--Notwithstanding section 212(c), a 
participating jurisdiction may use funds under subtitle A for 
administrative and planning costs of the jurisdiction in carrying out 
this section, and the limitation in section 212(c) shall be based on 
the total amount of funds available under subtitle A and this section.
    ``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $200,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2004 and 2005.''.
    (b) Relocation Assistance and Downpayment Assistance.--Subtitle F 
of title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act is 
amended by inserting after section 290 (42 U.S.C. 12840) the following 
new section:

``SEC. 291. RELOCATION ASSISTANCE AND DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE.

    ``The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition 
Policies Act of 1970 shall not apply to downpayment assistance under 
this title.''.
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