II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 404 

To provide funding for the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation Act, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 24, 2021 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. BROWN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. 

REED, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. 

CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. COONS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. HIRONO, 

Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. KAINE, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mr. BENNET, Mr. TESTER, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, 

Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide funding for the Neighborhood Reinvestment 

Corporation Act, 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 ‘‘Coronavirus Housing 

5 Counseling Improvement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR HOUSING COUNSELING SERVICES. 

2 (a) CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.—Congress finds 

3 that— 

4 (1) the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 

5 (COVID–19) continues to negatively impact the in6 comes of millions of homeowners, renters, individuals 

7 experiencing homelessness, and individuals at risk of 

8 homelessness, making it difficult for them to pay 

9 their mortgages or rents on time; 

10 (2) housing counseling is critical to ensuring 

11 that homeowners, renters, individuals experiencing 

12 homelessness, and individuals at risk of homeless13 ness have the resources they need to manage finan14 cial hardships from the COVID–19 crisis; 

15 (3) loan preservation and foreclosure mitigation 

16 services are also critical to address the needs of 

17 homeowners who lose employment and income be18 cause of the pandemic and who face serious delin19 quency or home loan default, or are in foreclosing 

20 proceedings during this period; and 

21 (4) evaluations from the National Foreclosure 

22 Mitigation Counseling program revealed that home23 owners at risk of or facing foreclosure are better 

24 served when they have access to a housing counselor 

25 and a range of tools and resources to help them 

26 avoid losing their home and have the support they 


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1 need to tailor the best possible response to their sit2 uation. 

3 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

4 authorized to be appropriated to the Neighborhood Rein5 vestment Corporation (in this section referred to as the 

6 ‘‘Corporation’’) established under the Neighborhood Rein7 vestment Corporation Act (42 U.S.C. 8101 et seq.) 

8 $700,000,000 for fiscal year 2021 for housing counseling 

9 services, which shall remain available until September 30, 

10 2024. 

11 (c) PRIORITIZATION OF HOUSING COUNSELING

12 SERVICES.—Of any grant funds made available pursuant 

13 to subsection (b), not less than 40 percent shall be pro14 vided to counseling organizations that target counseling 

15 services to minority and low-income homeowners, renters, 

16 individuals experiencing homelessness, and individuals at 

17 risk of homelessness or provide such services in neighbor18 hoods with high concentrations of minority and low-in19 come homeowners, renters, individuals experiencing home20 lessness, and individuals at risk of homelessness. 

21 (d) ELIGIBLE USES.—Amounts made available pur22 suant to subsection (b) may be used in such amounts as 

23 the Corporation determines for costs of— 

24 (1) public education and outreach; 


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1 (2) direct services, including the full range of 

2 services provided by housing counselors to assist 

3 homeowners, including manufactured homeowners, 

4 regardless of financing type, renters, individuals ex5 periencing homelessness, and individuals at risk of 

6 homelessness, including the practices, tools, and in7 novations in foreclosure mitigation that were utilized 

8 in the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling 

9 Program, and financial capability, credit counseling, 

10 homeless counseling, and rental counseling; 

11 (3) equipment and technology, including broad12 band internet and equipment upgrades needed to en13 sure timely and effective service delivery; 

14 (4) training, including capacitating housing 

15 counseling staff in various modes of counseling, in16 cluding rental and foreclosure, delivery of remote 

17 counseling utilizing improved technology, enhanced 

18 network security, and supportive options for the de19 livery of client services; and 

20 (5) administration and oversight of the program 

21 in accordance with the rate of the Corporation for 

22 program administration. 

23 (e) DISBURSEMENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Corporation shall dis25 burse all grant funds made available pursuant to 


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1 subsection (b) as expeditiously as possible, through 

2 grants to housing counseling intermediaries ap3 proved by the Department of Housing and Urban 

4 Development, State housing finance agencies, and 

5 NeighborWorks organizations. 

6 (2) LIMITATION.—The aggregate amount pro7 vided to NeighborWorks organizations under this 

8 section shall not exceed 15 percent of the total of 

9 grant funds made available pursuant to subsection 

10 (b). 

Æ 


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