I 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5572 

To stimulate the economy of the United States by providing assistance to 

States for foreclosure mitigation counseling activities and increased community development block grant assistance. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 10, 2008 

Mr. MORAN of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To stimulate the economy of the United States by providing 

assistance to States for foreclosure mitigation counseling 

activities and increased community development block 

grant assistance. 

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 Communities 

5 Act of 2008’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE TO STATES FOR FORECLOSURE MITI2 GATION COUNSELING. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

4 shall make grants to the States for providing foreclosure5 mitigation counseling to homeowners of owner-occupied 

6 single family homes with mortgage loans in default or in 

7 danger of default. Such counseling activities shall be de8 signed to prevent or mitigate foreclosure and result in the 

9 long-term affordability of the mortgage retained or result10 ing pursuant to the activity or another positive outcome 

11 for the homeowner. 

12 (b) TIMING.—The Secretary shall make all grants 

13 under this section not later than the expiration of the 90- 

14 day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

15 Act. 

16 (c) REGULATIONS.—Before the expiration of the pe17 riod referred to in subsection (b), the Secretary shall issue 

18 regulations to carry out this section, which shall prescribe 

19 criteria for— 

20 (1) allocation of the entire amount made avail21 able for grants under this section among the States; 

22 (2) eligible use of such amounts; and 

23 (3) eligibility of entities to provide foreclosure24 mitigation counseling activities with such amounts. 

25 (d) REQUIREMENT FOR NONPROFIT ASSISTANCE.— 

26 Each State that receives a grant under this section shall 


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1 provide not less than 95 percent of the grant amounts to 

2 nonprofit entities for the provision of foreclosure-mitiga3 tion counseling in accordance with subsection (a). 

4 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

5 following definitions shall apply: 

6 (1) NONPROFIT ENTITY.—The term ‘‘nonprofit 

7 entity’’ means any private organization or entity 

8 that— 

9 (A) is organized under State or local law; 

10 (B) has no part of its net earning inuring 

11 to the benefit of any member, founder, contrib12 utor, or individual; and 

13 (C) complies with standards of financial 

14 accountability acceptable to the Secretary. 

15 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

16 the Secretary of the Treasury. 

17 (3) STATES.—The term ‘‘States’’ means the 

18 States of the United States, the District of Colum19 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com20 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, 

21 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 

22 territory or possession of the United States. 

23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.—There is authorized 

24 to be appropriated to the Secretary for grants under this 

25 section $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 


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1 SEC. 3. INCREASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK 

2 GRANT ASSISTANCE. 

3 There is authorized to be appropriated for community 

4 development block grant assistance under section 106 of 

5 the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 

6 (42 U.S.C. 5306) $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. The 

7 amounts authorized to be appropriated under this section 

8 are in addition to amounts made available for such pur9 pose for such fiscal year under the Consolidated Appro10 priations Act, 2008 (Public Law 110–161). 

Æ 


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