I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1131 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide 

grants to State and local governments to carry out programs to provide 

mediation between mortgagees and mortgagors facing foreclosure. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2011 

Mr. COHEN 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 provide grants to State and local governments 

to carry out programs to provide mediation between 

mortgagees and mortgagors facing foreclosure. 

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 ‘‘Preventing Home5 owners from Foreclosure Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FORECLOSURE MEDIATION GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Housing 

8 and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 


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1 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall carry out a program to make competi2 tive grants to States and units of local government to es3 tablish mediation programs that assist mortgagors under 

4 home mortgages facing foreclosure on such mortgages. 

5 (b) FORECLOSURE MEDIATION PROGRAM REQUIRE6 MENTS.—Amounts from a grant under this section may 

7 be used only for costs of a foreclosure mediation program 

8 that provides as follows: 

9 (1) SCOPE.— 

10 (A) STATE GRANTEES.—In the case of a 

11 grant under this section to a State, the pro12 gram shall be carried out in at least one unit 

13 of local government within such State. 

14 (B) LOCAL GOVERNMENT GRANTEES.—In 

15 the case of a grant made to a unit of local gov16 ernment, the program shall be carried out in 

17 such unit of local government. 

18 (2) APPLICABILITY.—The program shall apply 

19 to— 

20 (A) any mortgagee that, after the expira21 tion of the 90-day period beginning upon re22 ceipt, by the grant recipient, of amounts from 

23 a grant under this section, initiates a fore24 closure proceeding on a home mortgage for a 

25 mortgaged home that is located in the jurisdicVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:10 Mar 17, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1131.IH H1131

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1 tion within which such program is being carried 

2 out, pursuant to paragraph (1); and 

3 (B) any mortgagor under such a home 

4 mortgage who is subject to a foreclosure pro5 ceeding. 

6 (3) REFERRAL TO ATTORNEY OR HOUSING

7 COUNSELOR.—The program shall provide the mort8 gagor with a referral and contact information for a 

9 paid or pro bono attorney, or a housing counselor 

10 certified by the Secretary. 

11 (4) REQUIRED MEETING AND MEDIATION.—The 

12 program shall require that, as soon as is practicable 

13 after the initiation of a foreclosure proceeding on a 

14 home mortgage or a mortgagee has provided the re15 quired foreclosure notice on a home mortgage to the 

16 mortgagor in accordance with applicable State or 

17 local law, as applicable, and, in any event, before 

18 entry of any foreclosure judgment on or foreclosure 

19 sale for, as applicable, the home mortgage— 

20 (A) any representative obtained by the 

21 mortgagor (including a representative obtained 

22 pursuant to a referral under paragraph (3)) 

23 shall meet with the mortgagor; and 


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1 (B) the mortgagee shall conduct, con2 sistent with any applicable State or local law, a 

3 mediation conference that— 

4 (i) is held to resolve issues relating to 

5 the foreclosure, with the aim of avoiding 

6 the foreclosure, through mediation; 

7 (ii) is held in an appropriate court in 

8 the jurisdiction of the grant recipient or, in 

9 the case of jurisdiction that does not pro10 vide for judicial foreclosure, such other ap11 propriate venue; 

12 (iii) involves the participation of a 

13 neutral, third party mediator selected by 

14 the court or the administrator of the fore15 closure mediation program; and 

16 (iv) is attended by— 

17 (I) the mortgagee or, if the mort18 gagee or an agent of the mortgagee 

19 having authority to execute a settle20 ment of all matters relating to the 

21 mortgage is immediately accessible by 

22 telephone, by a representative of the 

23 mortgagee; and 

24 (II) the mortgagor, or any rep25 resentative obtained by the mortgagor 


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1 (including a representative obtained 

2 pursuant to a referral under para3 graph (3)), or both. 

4 If the mortgagor fails to attend the conference, the 

5 requirement under this paragraph for a mediation 

6 conference shall be deemed to be satisfied upon 

7 verification by the administrator of the mediation 

8 program that the required foreclosure notice has 

9 been provided and issuance by such administrator of 

10 an order authorizing initiation of such foreclosure 

11 proceeding. 

12 (5) OUTREACH.—The grant recipient shall es13 tablish an outreach program to raise homeowner 

14 awareness of the existence of the foreclosure medi15 ation program. Such outreach program shall include 

16 providing access to information regarding the fore17 closure mediation program through a telephone hot18 line or a World Wide Web site, or both. 

19 (c) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.—The Sec20 retary shall select applicants to receive grants under this 

21 section under a competition based on selection criteria 

22 that the Secretary shall establish by regulation. 

23 (d) RECORDKEEPING.—Each grant recipient shall 

24 maintain a record of the outcome of each mediation con25 ference carried out under the mediation program assisted 


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1 with the grant amounts, including the nature of any loan 

2 modification made as a result of participation in the medi3 ation program. 

4 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act, the fol5 lowing definitions shall apply: 

6 (1) FORECLOSURE PROCEEDING.—The term 

7 ‘‘foreclosure proceeding’’ means any proceeding or 

8 procedure under applicable law, including judicial 

9 and non-judicial procedures, including a sheriff sale, 

10 to foreclose on a home mortgage. 

11 (2) HOME MORTGAGE.—The term ‘‘home mort12 gage’’ means a mortgage loan, repayment of which 

13 is secured by an interest in a one- to four-family res14 idence that is the principal residence of the mort15 gagor. 

16 (3) GRANT RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘grant re17 cipient’’ means a State or unit of local government 

18 that receives grant amounts under this section. 

19 (4) MORTGAGED HOME.—The term ‘‘mortgaged 

20 home’’ means, with respect to a home mortgage, the 

21 residence that is subject to the interest that secures 

22 repayment of the home mortgage. 

23 (5) REQUIRED FORECLOSURE NOTICE.—The 

24 term ‘‘required foreclosure notice’’ means any initial 

25 notice that is required under the law of a State to 


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1 be submitted to the mortgagor under a residential 

2 mortgage as a condition precedent to foreclosure on 

3 such mortgage. 

4 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 

5 States of the United States, the District of Colum6 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com7 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, 

8 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Trust Ter9 ritory of the Pacific Islands, and any other territory 

10 or possession of the United States. 

11 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

12 authorized to be appropriated for grants under this section 

13 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

14 2012 through 2016. 

15 (g) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Housing and 

16 Urban Development shall issue any regulations necessary 

17 to carry out this section. 

Æ 


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