United States S 4261: Educator Down Payment Assistance Act of 2024

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION S. 4261
To direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to award grants
to provide financial assistance to certain educators to make down pay-
ments on certain homes, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY 2, 2024
Mr. HEINRICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
to award grants to provide financial assistance to certain
educators to make down payments on certain homes,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Educator Down Pay-4
ment Assistance Act of 2024’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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•S 4261 IS
(1) ELIGIBLE DWELLING.—The term ‘‘eligible 1
dwelling’’ means a residential property with— 2
(A) not more than 4 dwelling units; 3
(B) an apartment; 4
(C) a condominium; or 5
(D) a manufactured dwelling unit. 6
(2) ELIGIBLE EDUCATOR.—The term ‘‘eligible 7
educator’’ means a public elementary or secondary 8
school teacher, principal, paraprofessional, school 9
leader, or other staff who— 10
(A) is a first-time homebuyer; 11
(B) has served in their position or another 12
position in the educational system for not fewer 13
than a total of 3 years (without regard to 14
whether such years were consecutive); 15
(C) has a qualifying income; and 16
(D) is in good standing. 17
(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-18
ty’’ means— 19
(A) a unit of local government; 20
(B) a State housing finance agency; or 21
(C) a local educational agency. 22
(4) ELIGIBLE RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE 23
LOAN.—The term ‘‘eligible residential mortgage 24
loan’’ means a residential mortgage loan that— 25
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•S 4261 IS
(A) meets the underwriting requirements 1
and dollar amount limitations for acquisition by 2
the Federal National Mortgage Association or 3
the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; 4
(B) is made, insured, or guaranteed under 5
title II of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 6
1707 et seq.) or title V of the Housing Act of 7
1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.); 8
(C) is made, insured, or guaranteed under 9
title VIII of the Native American Housing As-10
sistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 11
(25 U.S.C. 4221 et seq.); 12
(D) is a qualified mortgage, as defined in 13
section 129C(b)(2) of the Truth in Lending Act 14
(15 U.S.C. 1639c(b)(2)); or 15
(E) is guaranteed under section 184 of the 16
Housing and Community Development Act of 17
1992 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–13a). 18
(5) EMERGENCY EVENT.—The term ‘‘emer-19
gency event’’ includes— 20
(A) military deployment; 21
(B) divorce; 22
(C) death of an eligible educator or spouse; 23
and 24
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(D) other similar unforeseen events as de-1
termined by the Secretary. 2
(6) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 3
school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘other staff’’, 4
‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ have the mean-5
ings given such terms in section 8101 of the Ele-6
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 7
U.S.C. 7801). 8
(7) FIRST-TIME HOMEBUYER.—The term ‘‘first- 9
time homebuyer’’ has the meaning given the term in 10
section 92.2 of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations 11
(as in effect on the date of the enactment of this 12
Act), except that any reference in such section to the 13
American Dream Downpayment Initiative shall be 14
deemed to be a reference to the grant program es-15
tablished under this section. 16
(8) GOOD STANDING.—The term ‘‘good stand-17
ing’’ means that, with respect to an eligible educator 18
and during the 3-year period beginning on the date 19
on which the educator submits an application under 20
section 3(b), such educator has not received discipli-21
nary action from the local educational agency that 22
serves the school at which such educator works as 23
an educator. 24
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•S 4261 IS
(9) QUALIFYING INCOME.—The term ‘‘quali-1
fying income’’ means— 2
(A) an income that is not greater than 120 3
percent of the area median income in which the 4
eligible dwelling to be purchased is located; and 5
(B) if the Secretary determines that the 6
area described in subparagraph (A) is a high- 7
cost area, an income that is not greater than 8
180 percent of the median income of such area. 9
(10) S