I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6304 

To establish in the Department of the Treasury the Office of the Homeowner 

Advocate to assist homeowners, housing counselors, and housing lawyers 

in resolving problems with the Home Affordable Modification Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 

Mr. BACA (for himself, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Mr. 

MEEKS of New York, and Mr. SIRES) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To establish in the Department of the Treasury the Office 

of the Homeowner Advocate to assist homeowners, housing counselors, and housing lawyers in resolving problems 

with the Home Affordable Modification Program. 

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 ‘‘Office of the Home5 owner Advocate Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF THE HOMEOWNER ADVOCATE. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

8 Department of the Treasury an office to be known as the 


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1 ‘‘Office of the Homeowner Advocate’’ (in this Act referred 

2 to as the ‘‘Office’’). 

3 (b) DIRECTOR.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

5 the Homeowner Advocate (in this Act referred to as 

6 the ‘‘Director’’) shall be appointed by the Secretary 

7 of the Treasury, after consultation with the Sec8 retary of the Department of Housing and Urban De9 velopment, and without regard to the provisions of 

10 title 5, United States Code, relating to appointments 

11 in the competitive service or the Senior Executive 

12 Service. 

13 (2) SUPERVISOR; COMPENSATION.—The Direc14 tor shall report directly to the Assistant Secretary of 

15 the Treasury for Financial Stability, and shall be en16 titled to compensation at the same rate as the high17 est rate of basic pay established for the Senior Exec18 utive Service under section 5382 of title 5, United 

19 States Code. 

20 (3) QUALIFICATIONS.—An individual appointed 

21 under paragraph (1) shall have— 

22 (A) experience as an advocate for home23 owners; and 

24 (B) experience dealing with mortgage 

25 servicers. 


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1 (4) RESTRICTION ON EMPLOYMENT.—An indi2 vidual may be appointed as Director only if such in3 dividual was not an officer or employee of a mort4 gage servicer or the Department of the Treasury 

5 during the 4-year period ending on the date of such 

6 appointment. 

7 (5) HIRING AUTHORITY.—The Director shall 

8 have the authority to hire staff, obtain support by 

9 contract, and manage the budget of the Office of the 

10 Homeowner Advocate. 

11 SEC. 3. FUNCTIONS OF THE OFFICE. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be the function of the Of13 fice— 

14 (1) to assist homeowners, housing counselors, 

15 and housing lawyers in resolving problems with the 

16 Home Affordable Modification Program of the Mak17 ing Home Affordable initiative of the Secretary of 

18 the Treasury, authorized under the Emergency Eco19 nomic Stabilization Act of 2008 (in this title re20 ferred to as the ‘‘Home Affordable Modification Pro21 gram’’); 

22 (2) to identify areas, both individual and sys23 tematic, in which homeowners, housing counselors, 

24 and housing lawyers have problems in dealings with 

25 the Home Affordable Modification Program; 


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1 (3) to the extent possible, to propose changes in 

2 the administrative practices of the Home Affordable 

3 Modification Program to mitigate problems identi4 fied under paragraph (2); 

5 (4) to identify potential legislative changes 

6 which may be appropriate to mitigate such problems; 

7 and 

8 (5) to implement other programs and initiatives 

9 that the Director considers important in assisting 

10 homeowners, housing counselors, and housing law11 yers to resolve problems with the Home Affordable 

12 Modification Program, which may include— 

13 (A) running a triage hotline for home14 owners at risk of foreclosure; 

15 (B) providing homeowners with access to 

16 housing counseling programs of the Department 

17 of Housing and Urban Development at no cost 

18 to the homeowner; 

19 (C) developing Internet tools related to the 

20 Home Affordable Modification Program; and 

21 (D) developing training and educational 

22 materials. 

23 (b) AUTHORITY.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Staff designated by the Di25 rector shall have the authority to implement mortVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:36 Oct 12, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6304.IH H6304

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1 gage servicer remedies, on a case-by-case basis, sub2 ject to the approval of the Assistant Secretary of the 

3 Treasury for Financial Stability. 

4 (2) LIMITATIONS ON FORECLOSURES.—A mort5 gage servicer participating in the Home Affordable 

6 Modification Program may not initiate or continue a 

7 foreclosure proceeding until the earlier of the date 

8 on which the Office of the Homeowner Advocate 

9 case involving a homeowner who applied for a loan 

10 modification under such Program is closed, or 60 

11 days since the opening of the Office of the Home12 owner Advocate case involving such homeowner has 

13 passed, except that nothing in this section may be 

14 construed to relieve any mortgage servicers from any 

15 otherwise applicable rules, directives, or similar guid16 ance under the Program relating to the continuation 

17 or completion of foreclosure proceedings. 

18 (3) RESOLUTION OF HOMEOWNER CON19 CERNS.—The Director shall, to the extent possible, 

20 resolve all homeowner concerns not later than 30 

21 days after the opening of a case with such home22 owner. 

23 (c) COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS.—The Director 

24 shall commence its operations, as required by this Act, not 


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1 later than 3 months after the date of enactment of this 

2 Act. 

3 (d) SUNSET.—Effective on the date of the conclusion 

4 of the Home Affordable Modification Program, the Office 

5 of the Homeowner Advocate and the position of the Direc6 tor of the Office of the Homeowner Advocate are hereby 

7 abolished. 

8 SEC. 4. RELATIONSHIP WITH EXISTING ENTITIES. 

9 (a) TRANSFER.—The Director shall coordinate and 

10 centralize all complaint escalations relating to the Home 

11 Affordable Modification Program. 

12 (b) HOTLINE.—The HOPE hotline (or any successor 

13 triage hotline) shall reroute all complaints relating to the 

14 Home Affordable Modification Program to the Office. 

15 (c) COORDINATION.—The Director shall coordinate 

16 with the compliance office of the Office of Financial Sta17 bility of the Department of the Treasury and the Home18 ownership Preservation Office of the Department of the 

19 Treasury. 

20 SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

21 (a) TESTIMONY.—The Director shall appear and tes22 tify before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

23 Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Finan24 cial Services of the House of Representatives not less than 


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1 4 times a year or at any time at the request of the Chairs 

2 of either committee. 

3 (b) REPORTS.—The Director shall provide annually 

4 to Congress a detailed report on the Home Affordable 

5 Modification Program. Such report shall contain a full and 

6 substantive analysis of the Program, in addition to statis7 tical information, including, at a minimum— 

8 (1) data and analysis of the types and volume 

9 of complaints received from homeowners, housing 

10 counselors, and housing lawyers, disaggregated by 

11 category of mortgage servicer, except that mortgage 

12 servicers may not be identified by name in the re13 port; 

14 (2) a summary of not fewer than 20 of the 

15 most serious problems encountered by participants 

16 of the Home Affordable Modification Program, in17 cluding a description of the nature of such problems; 

18 (3) to the extent known, identification of the 10 

19 most litigated issues for participants of the Home 

20 Affordable Modification Program, including rec21 ommendations for mitigating such disputes; 

22 (4) data and analysis on the resolutions of the 

23 complaints received from homeowners, housing coun24 selors, and housing lawyers; 


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1 (5) identification of any programs or initiatives 

2 that the Director has taken to improve the Home 

3 Affordable Modification Program; 

4 (6) recommendations for such administrative 

5 and legislative action as may be appropriate to re6 solve problems encountered by participants of the 

7 Home Affordable Modification Program; and 

8 (7) such other information as the Director con9 siders advisable. 

10 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

11 Amounts made available for the costs of administra12 tion of the Home Affordable Modification Program that 

13 are not otherwise obligated to such Program shall be avail14 able to carry out the functions of the Office. Funding shall 

15 be maintained at levels adequate to reasonably carry out 

16 such functions. 

Æ 


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