[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3066 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3066

  To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 
  temporary mortgage assistance loans to save the homes of unemployed 
       homeowners who are delinquent on their mortgage payments.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 26, 2009

 Mr. Cummings introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 
  temporary mortgage assistance loans to save the homes of unemployed 
       homeowners who are delinquent on their mortgage payments.

    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 ``Temporary Mortgage Assistance Loan 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) as the economy worsens and unemployment rates continue 
        to rise, a growing number of long-time homeowners are finding 
        themselves in need of emergency short-term mortgage help in the 
        event of a job loss or other crisis;
            (2) these homeowners may not need or want a permanent 
        modification of their home loans or they may not qualify for 
        government initiatives aimed principally at subprime borrowers 
        or homeowners with exotic mortgage products; and
            (3) low-interest emergency mortgage loans can fill this gap 
        in options for responsible homeowners in need of help and stem 
        the rising tide of foreclosures that has depressed housing 
        values across the United States.

SEC. 3. TEMPORARY MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE LOANS.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in 
this Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall, to the extent amounts 
are made available in advance for loans under this section, make loans 
under this section in the form of mortgage assistance payments to 
mortgagees of all or part of the monthly payments due under the 
qualified mortgages of qualified homeowners who are in default on their 
mortgages.
    (b) Qualified Homeowners.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``qualified homeowner'' means the mortgagor under a qualified mortgage 
or mortgages--
            (1) who is 60 days or more delinquent with respect to any 
        payment due under the qualified mortgage or mortgages;
            (2) who, or a member of whose household who before 
        unemployment contributed significantly to the household 
        income--
                    (A) is unemployed, which unemployment renders the 
                mortgagor temporarily unable to correct the delinquency 
                and resume full payments under the qualified mortgage 
                or mortgages;
                    (B) has a reasonable prospect, in the determination 
                of the Secretary based on payment history prior to such 
                unemployment, education, or participation in worker 
                retraining during the period of such unemployment, for 
                obtaining employment; and
                    (C) who has registered for and is receiving State 
                unemployment benefits;
    (c) Qualified Mortgage and Mortgages.--
            (1) Qualified mortgage.--For purposes of this section, the 
        term ``qualified mortgage'' means, with respect to a qualified 
        homeowner, a first mortgage that--
                    (A) is secured by an interest on a one- to four-
                unit residence that is the principal residence of the 
                qualified homeowner that is not subject to more than 
                one other subordinate mortgage; and
                    (B) has an aggregate outstanding obligation that, 
                at the time of application for assistance under this 
                section, exceeds the appraised value of the residence 
                that is subject to the mortgages.
            (2) Qualified mortgages.--The term ``qualified mortgages'' 
        means, with respect to a qualified homeowner, a qualified 
        mortgage and another subordinate mortgage secured by an 
        interest in the same residence, which mortgages have an 
        aggregate outstanding obligation that, at the time of 
        application for assistance under this section, exceeds the 
        appraised value of the residence that is subject to the 
        mortgages.
    (d) Loans.--A loan under this section for a qualified mortgage or 
mortgages of a qualified homeowner shall--
            (1) be in the form of monthly payments to the mortgagee or 
        servicer of the mortgage or mortgages on account of such 
        mortgage or mortgages--
                    (A) during a period that ends upon the earlier of--
                            (i) a determination by the Secretary, 
                        pursuant to regular periodic reviews of the 
                        financial circumstances of the household of the 
                        mortgagor, that because of changes in such 
                        financial circumstances payments are no longer 
                        necessary; or
                            (ii) the making of the 18th such monthly 
                        payment on behalf of the qualified homeowner;
                    (B) in an amount--
                            (i) on a monthly basis, that does not 
                        exceed the amount, as determined by the 
                        Secretary, that bears the same proportion to 
                        the monthly amount due under the mortgage or 
                        mortgages, including principal, interest, 
                        taxes, assessments, ground rents, hazard and 
                        mortgage insurance, and such other fees as the 
                        Secretary may approve, as the amount of monthly 
                        income lost due to the unemployment referred to 
                        in subsection (b)(2) in the mortgagor's 
                        household bears to the amount of the aggregate 
                        household income of the mortgagor before such 
                        unemployment; and
                            (ii) in the aggregate, that does not exceed 
                        $30,000;
            (2) be secured by a lien on the principal residence that is 
        subject to the qualified mortgage or mortgages and subordinate 
        in priority to such mortgage or mortgages; and
            (3) be repayable upon such terms and conditions as the 
        Secretary shall establish, which shall provide that--
                    (A) the loan shall bear interest at a rate 
                determined by the Secretary, which shall not exceed 3 
                percent annually;
                    (B) such interest shall accrue from the time each 
                monthly payment under the loan is disbursed;
                    (C) repayment of the loan principal and interest 
                shall not be required until the expiration of the 60-
                day period that begins upon the earlier of--
                            (i) the time that the mortgagor or member 
                        of the mortgagor's household who is unemployed, 
                        as referred to in subsection (b)(2), obtains 
                        employment; or
                            (ii) the Secretary ceases making monthly 
                        payments under the loan on behalf of the 
                        qualified mortgagor.
    (e) Funding.--Of the funds made available to the Secretary of the 
Treasury under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 
2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211) that remain unobligated, the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall make available to the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development such sums as may be necessary for costs (as such term is 
defined in section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 
U.S.C. 661a)) of loans under this section.
    (f) Regulations.--Not later than the expiration of the 90-day 
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary shall issue any regulations necessary to carry out this Act.
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