Bill · H.R. 6726· House(119-HR-6726)
To amend the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to provide reforms to housing counseling and financial literacy programs.
- Introduced
- 12/15/2025
- Last activity
- 12/15/2025 — Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
- Sponsored by
- David Scott
- Cosponsors
- - 2 - 0
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
This bill seeks to amend the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 to reform housing counseling and financial literacy programs. It changes how assistance is distributed to ensure organizations serve diverse geographic areas, including urban and rural locations. The bill establishes new performance review requirements for participating agencies and creates a process for evaluating individual counselor competence. This includes potential actions such as required continued education, retesting, or permanent suspension of certification. Additionally, the bill provides a mechanism for the Secretary to deny the renewal of assistance to non-compliant organizations. Finally, it offers delinquent borrowers opportunities to participate in foreclosure mitigation counseling.
Yes· 3 of 12
Does this make housing cost less?+6
The bill improves affordable housing outcomes by increasing counseling access for delinquent borrowers and ensuring geographic diversity of services.
Would households on low incomes be better off under this?+5
The bill increases access to financial literacy and foreclosure mitigation counseling.
Does this give people more protection from unfair business practices?+5
The bill enhances consumer protection by establishing higher standards for housing counselor competence and accountability.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
-
Geographic Diversity: The bill amends requirements to ensure that recipients of assistance are geographically diverse and include organizations serving both urban and rural areas (Section 1, subsection (a)(1)).
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Improved Counselor Competence: The Secretary can review counselor performance by comparing it to the default rates of borrowers in comparable markets, which allows for corrective actions like continued education, retesting, or suspension of certification for those lacking competence (Section 1, subsection (a)(2)).
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Increased Accountability: The bill mandates performance reviews for all participating agencies to ensure compliance with program requirements (Section 1, subsection (a)(2)).
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Help for Delinquent Borrowers: Borrowers with covered mortgage loans who are 30 days or more delinquent on payments are given an opportunity to participate in available housing counseling (Section 1, subsection (a)(4)(2)).
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Financial Support for Counseling: For certain delinquent borrowers, the cost of counseling may be paid for by the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (Section 1, subsection (a)(4)(3)).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
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Loss of Counseling Capacity: When the Secretary takes action against a counselor for lack of competence, the bill notes this should only happen if it will not create a significant loss of capacity for housing counseling services in the service area (Section 1, subsection (a)(2)(8)).
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Risk of Assistance Termination: An organization or entity may have its assistance renewal denied if it or its individual counselors are found to be out of compliance with program requirements (Section 1, subsection (a)(3)(A)).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For Low Income Households+5Good For Veterans+4Good For Middle Class Households+3Good For Rural Residents+3Good For Urban Residents+3
- Governance And Ideology
- Increases Federal Power+3Improves Due Process+2Improves Government Transparency+2
- Social Issues And Justice
- Improves Affordable Housing+6
- Economy And Finance
- Improves Consumer Protection+5
- Environment Energy And Infrastructure
- Improves Rural Development+4
- National Security And Foreign Policy
- Improves Veterans Benefits+3
- 12/15/2025
- Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
- 2 Cosponsors added.
- Introduced in House
2 bills Congress.gov lists as related to this one — companions in the other chamber, earlier versions, and bills this one absorbed or was folded into.
Joyce BeattyDemocrat · Ohio
Cleo FieldsDemocrat · Louisiana