[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 526 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         July 11, 2007.
Whereas home ownership is an important part of realizing the American Dream;
Whereas home ownership is a powerful economic stimulus, both for individual 
        homeowners and for the national economy;
Whereas home ownership also benefits neighborhoods by raising property values 
        and by providing economic and social capital in previously distressed 
        communities;
Whereas in 2006, more than 75,000,000 Americans owned homes, and the home 
        ownership rate was nearly 69 percent, a near record high;
Whereas the home ownership rate for non-Hispanic whites in 2006 was 76 percent, 
        while the rate for African American households was only 48.2 percent; 
        Hispanic households were at 49.5 percent, and Asian, Native Americans, 
        and Pacific Islanders were at 60 percent;
Whereas this Nation experienced a housing boom from 2001 to 2006, due to 
        historically low mortgage rates, rising home prices, and increased 
        liquidity in the secondary mortgage market, all factors that led to the 
        growth of the sub-prime mortgage industry;
Whereas the sub-prime market has created home ownership opportunities for lower-
        income people, families without access to down payments and people with 
        little or no credit histories, but has also created opportunities for 
        ``predatory'' lending in which unscrupulous lenders have hidden the true 
        cost of sub-prime loans from unsophisticated borrowers;
Whereas during the past few months, it has become increasingly clear that 
        irresponsible sub-prime lending practices have contributed to a wave of 
        foreclosures that are harming communities and disrupting housing 
        markets;
Whereas higher cost sub-prime mortgage loans are most prevalent in lower-income 
        neighborhoods with high concentrations of minorities (in 2005, 53 
        percent of African American and 37.8 percent of Hispanic borrowers took 
        out sub-prime loans);
Whereas foreclosures are also costly from a legal and administrative standpoint, 
        with the average foreclosure costing the borrower $7,200 in 
        administrative charges;
Whereas lenders do not typically benefit from taking over a delinquent owner's 
        property, losing thousands of dollars per foreclosure;
Whereas foreclosures can also be very costly for local governments because 
        abandoned homes cost districts tax revenue;
Whereas a recent study calculated that a single-family home foreclosure lowers 
        the value of homes located within one-eighth of a mile (or one city 
        block) by an average of 0.9 percent and even more so (1.4 percent) in 
        low to moderate-income communities; and
Whereas the time has come to raise awareness about the dangers of risky loans 
        and to protect homeowners from unscrupulous lending practices: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved,  That--
            (1) it is the sense of the House that Government action should be 
        taken that protects buyers from unscrupulous mortgage brokers and 
        lenders; and
            (2) specifically, such action should--
                    (A) enforce rules to eliminate unfair and deceptive 
                practices in sub-prime mortgage lending;
                    (B) encourage lenders to evaluate a borrower's ability to 
                reasonably repay any mortgage loan;
                    (C) establish clear minimum standards for mortgage 
                originators;
                    (D) require that disclosures clearly and effectively 
                communicate necessary information about any mortgage loan to the 
                potential borrower;
                    (E) reduce or eliminate abuses in prepayment penalties;
                    (F) address appraisal and other mortgage fraud;
                    (G) raise public awareness regarding mortgage originators 
                whose loans have high foreclosure rates; and
                    (H) increase opportunities for loan counseling.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.