I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2961
To provide mortgage assistance to firefighters. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2003
Mr. PASCRELL (for himself, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. PALLONE, Mrs. MCCARTHY 
of New York, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. 
HOLDEN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. 
DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. COOPER, Mr. 
STENHOLM, Mr. OWENS, and Ms. WOOLSEY) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To provide mortgage assistance to firefighters.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Firefighters Affordable 
Housing Act’’. 
SEC. 2. MORTGAGE ASSISTANCE FOR VOLUNTEER FIRE-
FIGHTERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development may make mortgage assistance pay-
ments under this section on behalf of volunteer firefighters
to reduce the interest rates on eligible mortgage loans 
under subsection (b) for such firefighters. 
(b) ELIGIBLE MORTGAGES.—Assistance may be pro-
vided under this section only for a mortgage loan that 
meets the following requirements: 
(1) FIREFIGHTER
MORTGAGOR.—The mort-
gagor under the loan is a volunteer firefighter. 
(2) PRINCIPAL
RESIDENCE.—The residence 
subject to the mortgage is a single family residence 
that is the principal residence of the mortgagor. 
(3) MAXIMUM MORTGAGE AMOUNT.—The prin-
cipal obligation of the mortgage loan does not exceed 
the principal amount eligible for insurance with re-
spect to the property under the National Housing 
Act. 
(4) RESPONSIBLE MORTGAGEE.—The mortgage 
has been made to, and is held by, a mortgagee that 
is federally insured or that is otherwise approved by 
the Secretary as responsible and able to service the 
mortgage properly. 
(c) INTEREST RATE BUYDOWNS.—Mortgage assist-
ance under this section shall be provided only in the form 
of a payment or payments to the mortgagee in amounts 
sufficient to decrease by 2 percent the annual rate of in-
terest payable on the mortgage by the eligible volunteer
firefighter who is the mortgagor. Such payments may be 
made on an up-front basis or an ongoing monthly basis, 
as the Secretary considers appropriate. 
(d) TERMS OF ASSISTANCE.—
(1) TERMINATION.—The Secretary shall estab-
lish limitations on mortgage assistance payments 
under this section to ensure that a mortgagor may 
not receive the benefit of a reduced mortgage inter-
est from such payments for any portion of the term 
of a mortgage remaining after the occurrence of ei-
ther of the following: 
(A) FAILURE TO USE AS PRINCIPAL RESI-
DENCE.—The mortgagor ceases to comply with 
the requirement under subsection (b)(2). 
(B) TERMINATION
OF
DUTIES
AS
FIRE-
FIGHTER.—During the 10-year period begin-
ning upon the execution of the mortgage, the 
mortgagor ceases to comply with the require-
ment under subsection (b)(1). 
The Secretary may carry out his paragraph by ter-
minating any ongoing assistance payments under 
this section or by recapturing from the mortgagor 
the amount of any assistance payment made on an 
up-front basis that the Secretary determines is at-
tributable to reducing the interest rate for the por-
tion of the mortgage term remaining after an occur-
rence described in subparagraph (A) or (B). 
(2) ONE-TIME
ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 
may make assistance payments under this subsection 
with respect only to a single mortgage loan of an eli-
gible volunteer firefighter. 
(e) APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall provide for 
volunteer firefighters to submit applications for mortgage 
assistance under this section and for review of such appli-
cations to determine eligibility for such assistance. Assist-
ance shall be made available on a first-come, first-served 
basis for applications eligible for such assistance. 
(f) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to the Con-
gress, not later than 2 years after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, a report containing a description of the 
activities of the Secretary under the mortgage assistance 
program under this section and an analysis of the effec-
tiveness of such program in assisting home buyers that 
are eligible volunteer firefighters. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 
following definitions shall apply: 
(1) PUBLIC AGENCY.—The term ‘‘public agen-
cy’’ means the United States, any State of the 
United States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Virgin Is-
lands, American Samoa, and any other territory or 
possession of the United States, or any unit of gen-
eral local government, department, agency, or in-
strumentality of any entity referred to in this para-
graph. 
(2) PUBLIC FIRE SERVICE.—The term ‘‘public 
fire service’’ means a public agency consisting of 
personnel, apparatus, and equipment which has as 
its primary purpose the provision of services to pro-
tect property and maintaining the safety and welfare 
of the public from the dangers of fire, regardless of 
whether the personnel of any such organization in-
clude paid employees. Such term includes a public 
agency that also provides ambulance services or res-
cue services. 
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 
(4) SINGLE
FAMILY
RESIDENCE.—The term 
‘‘single family residence’’ means a 1- to 4-family res-
idence. Such term includes a unit in a cooperative. 
(5) VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER.—
(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘volunteer 
firefighter’’ means an individual who—
(i)(I) carries out duties for a public 
fire service that consist primarily of work 
directly connected with—
(aa) the control and extinguish-
ment of fires or the maintenance and 
use of firefighting apparatus and 
equipment; or 
(bb) if the public fire service for 
which the individual carries out duties 
provides ambulance or rescue services, 
the provision of ambulance or rescue 
services or the maintenance of ambu-
lance or rescue apparatus or equip-
ment; and 
(II) does not receive any remuneration 
in the form of pay, salary, or wages for 
conducting the duties referred to in sub-
clause (I); or 
(ii) otherwise serves on a volunteer 
basis as a firefighter, as determined by the 
Secretary. 
(B) ALLOWABLE
BENEFITS.—An indi-
vidual described in subparagraph (A) shall not 
be excluded from treatment under this section 
as a volunteer firefighter because such indi-
vidual is provided, in connection with the duties 
referred to in subparagraph (A)—
(i) reimbursement or allowance for ex-
penses actually incurred; 
(ii) insurance coverage for injuries 
proximately caused by such duties; 
(iii) food and lodging while on service 
for such duties; or 
(iv) any other benefits that the Sec-
retary determines are appropriate for pur-
poses of this section. 
(h) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue any 
regulations necessary to carry out this section. 
(i) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated for assistance payments 
under this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. 
SEC. 3. REDUCED FHA DOWNPAYMENT REQUIREMENTS 
FOR 
LOANS 
FOR 
PROFESSIONAL 
FIRE-
FIGHTERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 203(b) of the National 
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)) is amended by adding 
at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(10) 
REDUCED
DOWNPAYMENT
REQUIRE-
MENTS FOR PROFESSIONAL FIREFIGHTERS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para-
graph (2), in the case of a mortgage described 
in subparagraph (B)—
‘‘(i) the mortgage shall involve a prin-
cipal obligation in an amount that does not 
exceed the sum of 99 percent of the ap-
praised value of the property and the total 
amount of initial service charges, ap-
praisal, inspection, and other fees (as the 
Secretary shall approve) paid in connection 
with the mortgage; 
‘‘(ii) no other provision of this sub-
section limiting the principal obligation of 
the mortgage based upon a percentage of 
the appraised value of the property subject 
to the mortgage shall apply; and 
‘‘(iii) the matter in paragraph (9) that 
precedes the first proviso shall not apply 
and the mortgage shall be executed by a 
mortgagor who shall have paid on account 
of the property at least 1 percent of the 
cost of acquisition (as determined by the 
Secretary) in cash or its equivalent. 
‘‘(B) MORTGAGES COVERED.—A mortgage 
described in this subparagraph is a mortgage—
‘‘(i) under which the mortgagor—
‘‘(I) is a firefighter; and 
‘‘(II) has not, during the 12-
month period ending upon the insur-
ance of the mortgage, had any present 
ownership interest in a principal resi-
dence located in the jurisdiction de-
scribed in clause (ii); and 
‘‘(ii) made for a property that is lo-
cated within the jurisdiction served by the 
public fire service or rescue or ambulance 
agency that employs the mortgagor. 
‘‘(C) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 
paragraph, the following definitions shall apply: 
‘‘(i) FIREFIGHTER.—The term ‘fire-
fighter’ means an individual—
‘‘(I) who is employed on a full-
time basis by a public fire service or 
a private firefighting brigade; and 
‘‘(II) the duties of whose position 
are primarily to perform work directly 
connected with (aa) the control and 
extinguishment of fires or the mainte-
nance and use of firefighting appa-
ratus and equipment, or (bb) if the
public fire service or private fire-
fighting brigade employing the indi-
vidual provides ambulance or rescue 
services, the provision of ambulance or 
rescue services or the maintenance of 
ambulance or rescue apparatus or 
equipment. 
‘‘(ii) PUBLIC
AGENCY.—The term 
‘public agency’ means the United States, 
any State of the United States, the Dis-
trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Vir-
gin Islands, American Samoa, and any 
other territory or possession of the United 
States, or any unit of general local govern-
ment, department, agency, or instrumen-
tality of any entity referred to in this sub-
paragraph. 
‘‘(iii) PUBLIC
FIRE
SERVICE.—The 
term ‘public fire service’ means a public 
agency consisting of personnel, apparatus, 
and equipment which has as its primary 
purpose the provision of services to protect 
property and maintaining the safety and
welfare of the public from the dangers of 
fire. Such term includes a public agency 
that also provides ambulance service or 
rescue services.’’. 
(b) DEFERRAL AND REDUCTION OF UP-FRONT PRE-
MIUM.—Section 203(c) of the National Housing Act (12 
U.S.C. 1709(c)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (2), in the matter preceding 
subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘Notwithstanding’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in paragraph (3) 
and notwithstanding’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(3) DEFERRAL AND REDUCTION OF UP-FRONT PRE-
MIUM.—In the case of any mortgage described in sub-
section (b)(10)(B): 
‘‘(A) Paragraph (2)(A) of this subsection (relat-
ing to collection of up-front premium payments) 
shall not apply. 
‘‘(B) If, at any time during the 5-year period 
beginning on the date of the insurance of the mort-
gage, the mortgagor ceases to be a firefighter (as 
such term is defined in subsection (b)(10)(C)) or 
pays the principal obligation of the mortgage in full, 
the Secretary shall at such time collect a single pre-
mium payment in an amount equal to the amount 
of the single premium payment that, but for this 
paragraph, would have been required under para-
graph (2)(A) of this subsection with respect to the 
mortgage, as reduced by 20 percent of such amount 
for each successive 12-month period completed dur-
ing such 5-year period before such cessation or pre-
payment occurs.’’.
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