ROAD to Housing Act is a strong first step, significant access gap remains
With the Senate Banking Committee expected to mark up a bipartisan bill starting today, America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote to the committee Monday offering credit unions’ perspective on housing issues and suggestions for the legislation. Tuesday’s markup will be the first committee markup of a bipartisan housing bill in more than a decade.
The Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act is designed to boost housing supply, improve housing affordability, and increase oversight and efficiency of federal regulators and housing programs.
America’s Credit Unions supports provisions in the bill that would:
- Allow the CFPB to revise mortgage originator compensation rules so that loan officers are not penalized for originating small-dollar mortgages, helping credit unions fairly compensate staff for serving members with modest home financing needs;
- Permit the CFPB to adjust the Qualified Mortgage points-and-fees cap for loans under $100,000, making it more economically viable for credit unions to offer small-dollar mortgages; and
- Modernize the Federal Housing Administration’s appraisal requirements, allow greater use of credentialed trainees, and expand appraiser workforce development through grants—steps that could reduce appraisal delays and costs in underserved markets where credit unions often operate.
Nussle added there are additional steps the committee can take to achieve the goals of the legislation, by advancing additional bills to allow credit unions to offer longer loan terms and include credit unions as Community Financial Institutions under the Federal Home Loan Bank Act.
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