I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7858 

To require the provision of notice to homeowners regarding available housing 

relief to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2020 

Mr. EVANS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the provision of notice to homeowners regarding 

available housing relief to respond to the COVID-19 

pandemic, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping Owners Main5 tain Economic Security Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘HOMES Act 

6 of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NOTICE TO HOMEOWNERS. 

2 Section 4022 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9056) 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting after ‘‘cov5 ered period,’’ the following: ‘‘which term for pur6 poses of this section shall have the meaning given 

7 such term in section 623(a)(1)(F)(i) of the Fair 

8 Credit Reporting Act,’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub10 section: 

11 ‘‘(d) NOTICE TO HOMEOWNERS OF AVAILABLE RE12 LIEF.— 

13 ‘‘(1) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—Subject only to 

14 paragraph (3), not later than the expiration of the 

15 30-day period beginning upon the date of the enact16 ment of this subsection, each servicer of a Federally 

17 backed mortgage loan shall send, by first class 

18 United States mail, written notice to the mortgagor 

19 sufficient to inform such mortgagor in plain lan20 guage of the mortgagor’s eligibility to request for21 bearance under subsection (b). 

22 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—The notice established pursu23 ant to paragraph (1) shall include a statement— 

24 ‘‘(A) that section 4022(b) of the CARES 

25 Act provides that, during the covered period, a 

26 borrower with a Federally backed mortgage 


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1 loan experiencing a financial hardship due, di2 rectly or indirectly, to the COVID–19 emer3 gency may receive a forbearance on such loan 

4 for up to 180 days, regardless of delinquency 

5 status, by submitting a request to the loan 

6 servicer and affirming that the borrower is ex7 periencing a financial hardship during the 

8 COVID–19 emergency, and that such forbear9 ance period shall be extended for an additional 

10 180 days at the request of the borrower; 

11 ‘‘(B) explaining that the mortgagor can 

12 seek language assistance and general help 

13 through a housing counseling agency in the 

14 area that is approved by the Department of 

15 Housing and Urban Development and providing 

16 information on how to find such an approved 

17 housing counseling agency; 

18 ‘‘(C) that the moratorium under the 

19 CARES Act does not terminate the mortgagor’s 

20 obligation to make payments due under the 

21 mortgage; 

22 ‘‘(D) that mortgagor will owe any mort23 gage arrearages that accrue during the morato24 rium under the CARES Act; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) that mortgagors are encouraged to 

2 contact their mortgage servicer if they are hav3 ing trouble making payments due under their 

4 mortgage. 

5 ‘‘(3) EXEMPTION.—A servicer shall not be re6 quired to send notice pursuant to paragraph (1) to 

7 any mortgagor who has previously requested forbear8 ance under subsection (b).’’. 

9 SEC. 3. NOTICE TO MULTIFAMILY HOUSING MORTGAGORS. 

10 Section 4023 of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9057) 

11 is amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub13 section (g); and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol15 lowing new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(f) NOTICE TO BORROWER OF AVAILABLE RE17 LIEF.— 

18 ‘‘(1) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—Subject only to 

19 paragraph (3), not later than the expiration of the 

20 30-day period beginning upon the date of the enact21 ment of this subsection, each servicer of a Federally 

22 backed multifamily mortgage loan shall send, by 

23 first class United States mail, written notice to the 

24 multifamily borrower under such loan sufficient to 

25 inform such borrower in plain language of the borVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7858.IH H7858

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1 rower’s eligibility to request forbearance under sub2 section (b). 

3 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—The notice established pursu4 ant to paragraph (1) shall include a statement— 

5 ‘‘(A) explaining that the borrower can seek 

6 language assistance and general help through a 

7 housing counseling agency in the area that is 

8 approved by the Department of Housing and 

9 Urban Development and providing information 

10 on how to find such an approved housing coun11 seling agency; 

12 ‘‘(B) that the forbearance under the 

13 CARES Act does not terminate the borrower’s 

14 obligation to make payments due under the 

15 mortgage; 

16 ‘‘(C) that borrower will owe any mortgage 

17 arrearages that accrue during the forbearance 

18 under the CARES Act; 

19 ‘‘(D) explaining the renter protections 

20 under section subsection (d) of section 4023 of 

21 the CARES Act and the prohibitions under 

22 subsection (e) of such section; and 

23 ‘‘(E) that borrowers are encouraged to 

24 contact their mortgage servicer if they are havVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:34 Aug 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7858.IH H7858

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1 ing trouble making payments due under their 

2 mortgage. 

3 ‘‘(3) EXEMPTION.—A servicer shall not be re4 quired to send notice pursuant to paragraph (1) to 

5 any multifamily borrower who has previously re6 quested forbearance under subsection (b).’’. 

7 SEC. 4. MODEL NOTICES. 

8 (a) DEVELOPMENT.—Not later than the expiration of 

9 the 7-day period beginning on the date of the enactment 

10 of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop11 ment, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Vet12 erans Affairs, and the Federal National Mortgage Associa13 tion and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, 

14 at the direction of the Director of the Federal Housing 

15 Finance Agency, shall jointly establish notices that are 

16 sufficient to comply with the requirements of sections 

17 4022(d) and 4023(f) of the CARES Act, as added by the 

18 amendments made by sections 2 and 3 of this Act, respec19 tively. 

20 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Such agency heads and entities 

21 shall take such actions as may be necessary— 

22 (1) to publicize the availability of such notices 

23 to servicers of a Federally backed mortgage loans 

24 and Federally backed multifamily mortgage loans; 

25 and 


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1 (2) to make such notices publicly and widely 

2 available for use by servicers of a Federally backed 

3 mortgage loans and Federally backed multifamily 

4 mortgage loans. 

Æ 


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