I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6729 
To establish a Homeowner Assistance Fund to provide funds to State housing 
finance agencies for the purpose of preventing homeowner mortgage 
defaults, foreclosures, and displacements of individuals and families expe-
riencing financial hardship, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2020 
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia (for himself and Ms. WATERS) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 
and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish a Homeowner Assistance Fund to provide funds 
to State housing finance agencies for the purpose of 
preventing homeowner mortgage defaults, foreclosures, 
and displacements of individuals and families experi-
encing financial hardship, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘COVID-19 Home-
owner Assistance Fund Act of 2020’’. 
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SEC. 2. HOMEOWNER ASSISTANCE FUND. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the 
Homeowner Assistance Fund established under sub-
section (b). 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Treasury. 
(3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 
any territory of the United States, Puerto Rico, 
Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the 
Northern Mariana Islands. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT
OF FUND.—There is estab-
lished at the Department of the Treasury a Homeowner 
Assistance Fund to provide such funds as are made avail-
able under subsection (g) to State housing finance agen-
cies for the purpose of preventing homeowner mortgage 
defaults, foreclosures, and displacements of individuals 
and families experiencing financial hardship after January 
21, 2020. 
(c) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 
(1) ADMINISTRATION.—Of any amounts made 
available for the Fund, the Secretary of the Treas-
ury may allocate, in the aggregate, an amount not 
exceeding 5 percent— 
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(A) to the Office of Financial Stability es-
tablished under section 101(a) of the Emer-
gency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 
U.S.C. 5211(a)) to administer and oversee the 
Fund, and to provide technical assistance to 
States for the creation and implementation of 
State programs to administer assistance from 
the Fund; and 
(B) to the Inspector General of the De-
partment of the Treasury for oversight of the 
program under this section. 
(2) FOR STATES.—The Secretary shall establish 
such criteria as are necessary to allocate the funds 
available within the Fund for each State. The Sec-
retary shall allocate such funds among all States 
taking into consideration the number of unemploy-
ment claims within a State relative to the nationwide 
number of unemployment claims. 
(3) SMALL STATE MINIMUM.—The amount allo-
cated for each State shall not be less than 
$250,000,000. 
(4) SET-ASIDE FOR INSULAR AREAS.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of this section, of the 
amounts appropriated under subsection (g), the Sec-
retary shall reserve $200,000,000 to be disbursed to 
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Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the 
Northern Mariana Islands based on each such terri-
tory’s share of the combined total population of all 
such territories, as determined by the Secretary. For 
the purposes of this paragraph, population shall be 
determined based on the most recent year for which 
data are available from the United States Census 
Bureau. 
(5) SET-ASIDE FOR INDIAN TRIBES AND NATIVE 
HAWAIIANS.—— 
(A) INDIAN TRIBES.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of this section, of the amounts 
appropriated under subsection (g), the Sec-
retary shall use 5 percent to make grants in ac-
cordance with subsection (f) to eligible recipi-
ents for the purposes described in subsection 
(e)(1). 
(B) NATIVE HAWAIIANS.—Of the funds set 
aside under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 
shall use 0.3 percent to make grants to the De-
partment of Hawaiian Home Lands in accord-
ance with subsection (f) for the purposes de-
scribed in subsection (e)(1). 
(d) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.— 
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(1) ADMINISTRATION.—Except for amounts 
made available for assistance under subsection (f), 
State housing finance agencies shall be primarily re-
sponsible for administering amounts disbursed from 
the Fund, but may delegate responsibilities and sub- 
allocate amounts to community development finan-
cial institutions and State agencies that administer 
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program of 
the Department of Health and Human Services. 
(2) NOTICE OF FUNDING.—The Secretary shall 
provide public notice of the amounts that will be 
made available to each State and the method used 
for determining such amounts not later than the ex-
piration of the 14-day period beginning on the date 
of the enactment of this Act of enactment. 
(3) SHFA PLANS.— 
(A) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive 
funding allocated for a State under the section, 
a State housing finance agency for the State 
shall submit to the Secretary a plan for the im-
plementation of State programs to administer, 
in part or in full, the amount of funding the 
State is eligible to receive, which shall provide 
for the commencement of receipt of applications 
by homeowners for assistance, and funding of 
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such applications, not later than the expiration 
of the 6-month period beginning upon the ap-
proval under this paragraph of such plan. 
(B) MULTIPLE PLANS.—A State housing 
finance agency may submit multiple plans, each 
covering a separate portion of funding for 
which the State is eligible. 
(C) TIMING.—The Secretary shall approve 
or disapprove a plan within 30 days after the 
plan’s submission and, if disapproved, explain 
why the plan could not be approved. 
(D) DISBURSEMENT
UPON
APPROVAL.— 
The Secretary shall disburse to a State housing 
finance agency the appropriate amount of fund-
ing upon approval of the agency’s plan. 
(E) AMENDMENTS.—A State housing fi-
nance agency may subsequently amend a plan 
that has previously been approved, provided 
that any plan amendment shall be subject to 
the approval of the Secretary. The Secretary 
shall approve any plan amendment or dis-
approve such amendment explain why the plan 
amendment could not be approved within 45 
days after submission to the Secretary of such 
amendment. 
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(F) TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE.—The Sec-
retary shall provide technical assistance for any 
State housing finance agency that twice fails to 
have a submitted plan approved. 
(e) PERMISSIBLE USES OF FUND.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Funds made available to 
State housing finance agencies pursuant to this sec-
tion may be used for the purposes established under 
subsection (b), which may include— 
(A) mortgage payment assistance, includ-
ing financial assistance to allow a borrower to 
reinstate their mortgage or to achieve a more 
affordable mortgage payment, which may in-
clude principal reduction or rate reduction, pro-
vided that any mortgage payment assistance is 
tailored to a borrower’s needs and their ability 
to repay, and takes into consideration the loss 
mitigation options available to the borrower; 
(B) assistance with payment of taxes, haz-
ard insurance, flood insurance, mortgage insur-
ance, or homeowners’ association fees; 
(C) utility payment assistance, including 
electric, gas, water, and internet service, includ-
ing broadband internet access service (as such 
term is defined in section 8.1(b) of title 47, 
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Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor 
regulation)); 
(D) reimbursement of funds expended by a 
State or local government during the period be-
ginning on January 21, 2020, and ending on 
the date that the first funds are disbursed by 
the State under the Fund, for the purpose of 
providing housing or utility assistance to indi-
viduals or otherwise providing funds to prevent 
foreclosure or eviction of a homeowner or pre-
vent mortgage delinquency or loss of housing or 
critical utilities as a response to the coronavirus 
disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic; and 
(E) any other assistance for homeowners 
to prevent eviction, mortgage delinquency or de-
fault, foreclosure, or the loss of essential utility 
services. 
(2) TARGETING.— 
(A) REQUIREMENT.—Not less than 60 per-
cent of amounts made available for each State 
or other entity allocated amounts under sub-
section (c) shall be used for activities under 
paragraph (1) that assist homeowners having 
incomes equal to or less than 80 percent of the 
area median income. 
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(B) DETERMINATION OF INCOME.—In de-
termining the income of a household for pur-
poses of this paragraph, income shall be consid-
ered to include only income that the household 
is receiving at the time of application for assist-
ance from the Fund and any income recently 
terminated shall not be included, except that for 
purposes of households receiving assistance for 
arrearages income shall include only the income 
that the household was receiving at the time 
such arrearages were incurred. 
(C) LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE.—Each State 
housing finance agency or other entity allocated 
amounts under subsection (c) shall make avail-
able to each applicant for assistance from 
amounts from the Fund language assistance in 
any language that such language assistance is 
available in and shall provide notice to each 
such applicant that such language assistance is 
available. 
(3) ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES.—Not more 
than 15 percent of the amount allocated to a State 
pursuant to subsection (c) may be used by a State 
housing financing agency for administrative ex-
penses. Any amounts allocated to administrative ex-
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penses that are no longer necessary for administra-
tive expenses may be used in accordance with para-
graph (1). 
(f) TRIBAL AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
(A) DEPARTMENT
OF
HAWAIIAN
HOME 
LANDS.—The term ‘‘Department of Hawaiian 
Home Lands’’ has the meaning given the term 
in section 801 of the Native American Housing 
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 
(42 U.S.C. 4221). 
(B) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘eli-
gible recipient’’ means any entity eligible to re-
ceive a grant under section 101 of the Native 
American Housing Assistance and Self-Deter-
mination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4111). 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.— 
(A) ALLOCATION.—Except for the funds 
set aside under subsection (c)(5)(B), the Sec-
retary shall allocate the funds set aside under 
subsection (c)(5)(A) using the allocation for-
mula described in subpart D of part 1000 of 
title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or any 
successor regulations). 
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(B) NATIVE
HAWAIIANS.—The Secretary 
shall use the funds made available under sub-
section (c)(5)(B) in accordance with part 1006 
of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or suc-
cessor regulations). 
(3) TRANSFER.—The Secretary shall transfer 
any funds made available under subsection (c)(5) 
that have not been allocated by an eligible recipient 
or the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, as ap-
plicable, to provide the assistance described in sub-
section (e)(1) by December 31, 2030, to the Sec-
retary of Housing and Urban Development to carry 
out the Native American Housing Assistance and 
Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et 
seq.). 
(g) FUNDING.— 
(1) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated, 
out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise ap-
propriated, to the Homeowner Assistance Fund es-
tablished under subsection (b), $75,000,000,000, to 
remain available until expended or transferred or 
credited under subsection (i). 
(2) 
EMERGENCY
DESIGNATION.—Amounts 
specified under subsection (a) are designated by the 
Congress as being for an emergency requirement 
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pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced 
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 
(h) USE OF HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY INNOVATION 
FUND
FOR
THE HARDEST HIT HOUSING MARKETS 
FUNDS.—A State housing finance agency may reallocate 
any administrative or programmatic funds it has received 
as an allocation from the Housing Finance Agency Inno-
vation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets created 
pursuant to section 101(a) of the Emergency Economic 
Stabilization Act of 2008 (12 U.S.C. 5211(a)) that have 
not been otherwise allocated or disbursed as of the date 
of enactment of this Act to supplement any administrative 
or programmatic funds received from the Housing Assist-
ance Fund. Such reallocated funds shall not be considered 
when allocating resources from the Housing Assistance 
Fund using the process established under subsection (c) 
and shall remain available for the uses permitted and 
under the terms and conditions established by the contract 
with Secretary created pursuant to subsection (d)(1) and 
the terms of subsection (i). 
(i) RESCISSION OF FUNDS.—Any funds that have not 
been allocated by a State housing finance agency to pro-
vide assistance as described under subsection (e) by De-
cember 31, 2030, shall be reallocated by the Secretary in 
the following manner: 
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(1) Sixty-five percent shall be transferred or 
credited to the Housing Trust Fund established 
under section 1338 of the Federal Housing Enter-
prises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 
(12 U.S.C. 4568); and 
(2) thirty-five percent shall be transferred or 
credited to the Capital Magnet Fund under section 
1339 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial 
Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 
4569). 
(j) REPORTING
REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 
shall provide public reports not less frequently than quar-
terly regarding the use of funds provided by the Home-
owner Assistance Fund. Such reports shall include the fol-
lowing data by State and by program within each State, 
both for the past quarter and throughout the life of the 
program— 
(1) the amount of funds allocated; 
(2) the amount of funds disbursed; 
(3) the number of households and individuals 
assisted; 
(4) the acceptance rate of applicants; 
(5) the type or types of assistance provided to 
each household; 
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