I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 152 

To require any payments of principal or interest on a residential mortgage 

loan that are deferred during a COVID–19 emergency period to be 

due no earlier than the last day of the loan term, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2021 

Mr. RUSH (for himself, Mr. COOPER, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. MFUME, Ms. NORTON, Mr. POCAN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. SIRES) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require any payments of principal or interest on a residential mortgage loan that are deferred during a 

COVID–19 emergency period to be due no earlier than 

the last day of the loan term, 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 ‘‘Ensuring Homeowner 

5 and Occupant Monetary Encouragement and Stability 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘Ensuring HOMES Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF DEFERRED RESIDENTIAL MORT2 GAGE PAYMENTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any payments of 

4 principal or interest on a residential mortgage loan that 

5 are deferred during a COVID–19 emergency period 

6 (whether pursuant to Federal law or otherwise), the appli7 cable holder or servicer of such loan may not require such 

8 payments to be due until the later of— 

9 (1) the last day of the loan term; or 

10 (2) the end of the deferral period. 

11 (b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec12 tion may be construed as prohibiting a borrower from 

13 making payments on a loan before the date specified under 

14 subsection (a). 

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN.—The term 

17 ‘‘residential mortgage loan’’ means any loan which is 

18 secured by residential real property designed prin19 cipally for the occupancy of families, regardless of 

20 the number of families by which the real property is 

21 designed to be occupied. 

22 (2) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD.—The 

23 term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ means the pe24 riod that— 

25 (A) begins upon a date that the President 

26 declares an emergency under the Robert T. 


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1 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist2 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 4121 et seq.) relating to 

3 a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pan4 demic; and 

5 (B) ends upon the date of the termination 

6 by the Federal Emergency Management Admin7 istration of such emergency declaration. 

8 SEC. 3. TENANT PROTECTION PROGRAM. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

10 Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 

11 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall carry out a program to be known as 

12 the Tenant Protection Program, under which the Sec13 retary shall make quarterly loans to landlords who waive 

14 rent owned by tenants during the COVID–19 emergency 

15 period, in accordance with this section. 

16 (b) LOAN DETAILS.— 

17 (1) LOAN AMOUNT.—A loan provided under 

18 this section shall be in an amount equal to no more 

19 than half of the amount of rent that a landlord an20 ticipates waiving during the applicable quarter. 

21 (2) FEES; INTEREST.—The Secretary may not 

22 charge any fee in connection with a loan made under 

23 this section and may not charge interest on any such 

24 loan in an amount greater than 4 percent. 


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1 (c) LOAN FORGIVENESS.—The Secretary shall for2 give any loan made under this section to a landlord if— 

3 (1) the landlord permits each tenant of the 

4 landlord to extend any lease until the date that is 

5 60 days after the end of the COVID–19 emergency 

6 period, if such lease would have terminated before 

7 such date; and 

8 (2) the landlord enters into an agreement with 

9 the Secretary under which the landlord will not evict 

10 any tenant until the date that is 60 days after the 

11 end of the COVID–19 emergency period. 

12 (d) COVID–19 EMERGENCY PERIOD DEFINED.—In 

13 this section, the term ‘‘COVID–19 emergency period’’ has 

14 the meaning given that term under section 2. 

15 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such 

17 sums as may be necessary to carry out this section. 

18 SEC. 4. RULES OF APPLICATION. 

19 (a) APPLICATION TO EXISTING AND NEW EMER20 GENCIES.—This Act shall apply to a COVID–19 emer21 gency period (as defined under section 2) in existence on 

22 the date of enactment of this Act or beginning after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act. 

24 (b) RETROACTIVE EFFECT.—With respect to the 

25 COVID–19 emergency period in existence on the date of 


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1 enactment of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall 

2 apply retroactively to actions taken beginning on the first 

3 day of such emergency period. 

Æ 


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