II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2092 

To permanently authorize the Native Community Development Financial Institutions lending program of the Department of Agriculture, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 16, 2021 

Ms. SMITH (for herself, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. THUNE, Mr. TESTER, Mr. CRAMER, 

and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To permanently authorize the Native Community Development Financial Institutions lending program of the Department of Agriculture, 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 ‘‘Native American Rural 

5 Homeownership Improvement Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIVE CDFI RELENDING PROGRAM. 

7 Section 502 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 

8 1472) is amended by adding at the end the following: 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2092 IS

1 ‘‘(j) SET ASIDE FOR NATIVE COMMUNITY DEVELOP2 MENT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

4 ‘‘(A) the term ‘Alaska Native’ has the 

5 meaning given the term ‘Native’ in section 3(b) 

6 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 

7 U.S.C. 1602(b)); 

8 ‘‘(B) the term ‘appropriate congressional 

9 committees’ means— 

10 ‘‘(i) the Committee on Agriculture of 

11 the Senate; 

12 ‘‘(ii) the Committee on Indian Affairs 

13 of the Senate; 

14 ‘‘(iii) the Committee on Banking, 

15 Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 

16 ‘‘(iv) the Committee on Agriculture of 

17 the House of Representatives; 

18 ‘‘(v) the Committee on Natural Re19 sources of the House of Representatives; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(vi) the Committee on Financial 

22 Services of the House of Representatives; 

23 ‘‘(C) the term ‘community development fi24 nancial institution’ has the meaning given the 

25 term in section 103 of the Community DevelopVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2092.IS S2092

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2092 IS

1 ment Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 

2 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4702); 

3 ‘‘(D) the term ‘Indian Tribe’ has the 

4 meaning given the term ‘Indian tribe’ in section 

5 4 of the Native American Housing Assistance 

6 and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 

7 4103); 

8 ‘‘(E) the term ‘Native community develop9 ment financial institution’ means an entity— 

10 ‘‘(i) that has been certified as a com11 munity development financial institution by 

12 the Secretary of the Treasury; 

13 ‘‘(ii) that is not less than 50 percent 

14 owned or controlled by members of Indian 

15 Tribes, Alaska Native communities, or Na16 tive Hawaiian communities; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) for which not less than 50 per18 cent of the activities of the entity serve In19 dian Tribes, Alaska Native communities, 

20 or Native Hawaiian communities; 

21 ‘‘(F) the term ‘Native Hawaiian’ has the 

22 meaning given the term in section 801 of the 

23 Native American Housing Assistance and Self24 Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4221); 

25 and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2092 IS

1 ‘‘(G) the term ‘priority Tribal land’ 

2 means— 

3 ‘‘(i) any land located within the 

4 boundaries of— 

5 ‘‘(I) an Indian reservation, pueb6 lo, or rancheria; or 

7 ‘‘(II) a former reservation within 

8 Oklahoma; 

9 ‘‘(ii) any land not located within the 

10 boundaries of an Indian reservation, pueb11 lo, or rancheria, the title to which is held— 

12 ‘‘(I) in trust by the United States 

13 for the benefit of an Indian Tribe or 

14 an individual Indian; 

15 ‘‘(II) by an Indian Tribe or an 

16 individual Indian, subject to restric17 tion against alienation under laws of 

18 the United States; or 

19 ‘‘(III) by a dependent Indian 

20 community; 

21 ‘‘(iii) any land located within a region 

22 established pursuant to section 7(a) of the 

23 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 

24 U.S.C. 1606(a)); 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2092 IS

1 ‘‘(iv) Hawaiian Home Lands, as de2 fined in section 801 of the Native Amer3 ican Housing Assistance and Self-Deter4 mination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4221); or 

5 ‘‘(v) those areas or communities des6 ignated by the Assistant Secretary of In7 dian Affairs of the Department of the Inte8 rior that are near, adjacent, or contiguous 

9 to reservations where financial assistance 

10 and social service programs are provided to 

11 Indians because of their status as Indians. 

12 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subsection 

13 is to— 

14 ‘‘(A) increase homeownership opportunities 

15 for Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Communities, 

16 and Native Hawaiian communities in rural 

17 areas; and 

18 ‘‘(B) provide capital to Native community 

19 development financial institutions to increase 

20 the number of mortgage transactions carried 

21 out by those institutions. 

22 ‘‘(3) SET ASIDE FOR NATIVE CDFIS.—Of 

23 amounts appropriated to make direct loans under 

24 this section for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall 

25 use $50,000,000 to make direct loans to Native 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2092 IS

1 community development financial institutions in ac2 cordance with this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS.—A Native 

4 community development financial institution desiring 

5 a loan under this subsection shall demonstrate that 

6 the institution— 

7 ‘‘(A) can provide the non-Federal cost 

8 share required under paragraph (6); and 

9 ‘‘(B) is able to originate and service loans 

10 for single family homes. 

11 ‘‘(5) LENDING REQUIREMENTS.—A Native com12 munity development financial institution that re13 ceives a loan pursuant to this subsection shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) use those amounts to make loans to 

15 borrowers— 

16 ‘‘(i) who otherwise meet the require17 ments for a loan under this section; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) who— 

19 ‘‘(I) are members of an Indian 

20 Tribe, an Alaska Native community, 

21 or a Native Hawaiian community; or 

22 ‘‘(II) maintain a household in 

23 which not less 1 member is a member 

24 of an Indian Tribe, an Alaska Native 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 2092 IS

1 community, or a Native Hawaiian 

2 community; and 

3 ‘‘(B) in making loans under subparagraph 

4 (A), give priority to borrowers described in that 

5 subparagraph who are residing on priority Trib6 al land. 

7 ‘‘(6) NON-FEDERAL COST SHARE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A Native community 

9 development financial institution that receives a 

10 loan under this section shall be required to 

11 match not less than 20 percent of the amount 

12 received. 

13 ‘‘(B) WAIVER.—In the case of a loan for 

14 which amounts are used to make loans to bor15 rowers described in paragraph (5)(B), the Sec16 retary shall waive the non-Federal cost share 

17 requirement described in subparagraph (A) with 

18 respect to those loan amounts. 

19 ‘‘(7) REPORTING.— 

20 ‘‘(A) ANNUAL REPORT BY NATIVE

21 CDFIS.—Each Native community development 

22 financial institution that receives a loan pursu23 ant to this subsection shall submit an annual 

24 report to the Secretary on the lending activities 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 2092 IS

1 of the institution using the loan amounts, which 

2 shall include— 

3 ‘‘(i) a description of the outreach ef4 forts of the institution in local communities 

5 to identify eligible borrowers; 

6 ‘‘(ii) a description of how the institu7 tion leveraged additional capital to reach 

8 prospective borrowers; 

9 ‘‘(iii) the number of loan applications 

10 received, approved, and deployed; 

11 ‘‘(iv) the average loan amount; 

12 ‘‘(v) the number of finalized loans 

13 that were made on Tribal trust lands and 

14 not on Tribal trust lands; and 

15 ‘‘(vi) the number of finalized loans 

16 that were made on priority Tribal land and 

17 not priority Tribal land. 

18 ‘‘(B) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

19 Not later than 1 year after the date of enact20 ment of this subsection, and every year there21 after, the Secretary shall submit to the appro22 priate congressional communities a report that 

23 includes— 

24 ‘‘(i) a list of loans made to Native 

25 community development financial instituVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2092.IS S2092

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 2092 IS

1 tions pursuant to this subsection, including 

2 the name of the institution and the loan 

3 amount; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the percentage of loans made 

5 under this section to members of Indian 

6 Tribes, Alaska Native communities, and 

7 Native Hawaiian communities, respectively, 

8 including a breakdown of loans made to 

9 households residing on and not on Tribal 

10 trust lands; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) the average loan amount made 

12 by Native community development finan13 cial institutions pursuant to this sub14 section. 

15 ‘‘(C) EVALUATION OF PROGRAM.—Not 

16 later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

17 of this subsection, the Secretary and the Sec18 retary of the Treasury shall conduct an evalua19 tion of and submit to the appropriate congres20 sional committees a report on the program 

21 under this subsection, which shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) evaluate the effectiveness of the 

23 program, including an evaluation of the de24 mand for loans under the program; and 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 2092 IS

1 ‘‘(ii) include recommendations relating 

2 to the program, including whether— 

3 ‘‘(I) the program should be ex4 panded to such that all community de5 velopment financial institutions may 

6 make loans under the program to the 

7 borrowers described in paragraph (5); 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(II) the set aside amount para10 graph (3) should be modified in order 

11 to match demand under the program. 

12 ‘‘(8) GRANTS FOR OPERATIONAL SUPPORT.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

14 make grants to Native community development 

15 financial institutions that receive a loan under 

16 this section to provide operational support and 

17 other related services to those institutions, sub18 ject to— 

19 ‘‘(i) to the satisfactory performance, 

20 as determined by the Secretary, of a Na21 tive community development financial insti22 tution in carrying out this section; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) the availability of funding. 

24 ‘‘(B) AMOUNT.—A Native community de25 velopment financial institution that receives a 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
11 

•S 2092 IS

1 loan under this section shall be eligible to re2 ceive an annual grant described in subpara3 graph (A) in an amount equal to not less than 

4 20 percent and not more than 25 percent of the 

5 total outstanding balance of loans made by the 

6 Native community development financial insti7 tution under the program under this section as 

8 of the date on which the grant is awarded. 

9 ‘‘(9) OUTREACH AND TECHNICAL ASSIST10 ANCE.—There is authorized to be appropriated to 

11 the Secretary $1,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

12 2022, 2023, and 2024— 

13 ‘‘(A) to provide technical assistance to Na14 tive community development financial institu15 tions— 

16 ‘‘(i) relating to homeownership and 

17 other housing-related assistance provided 

18 by the Secretary; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) to assist those institutions to 

20 perform outreach to eligible homebuyers 

21 relating to the loan program under this 

22 section; or 

23 ‘‘(B) to provide funding to a national orga24 nization representing Native American housing 

25 interests to perform outreach and provide techVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:57 Jul 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2092.IS S2092

pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
12 

•S 2092 IS

1 nical assistance as described in clauses (i) and 

2 (ii), respectively, of subparagraph (A).’’. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS