The 12 Titles / Title VII
Title VII: Oversight and Accountability
This title strengthens congressional oversight of federal housing agencies. It requires the HUD Secretary to testify before Congress every year, adds new FHA financial reporting requirements, tightens reporting by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, and addresses home appraisals by requiring agencies to give consumers a way to challenge appraisals and by commissioning a study on creating a public appraisal database.
§ 701 Requiring Annual Testimony and Oversight From Housing Regulators
The HUD Secretary must now appear at an annual hearing before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee to testify about the department's operations over the previous year. The required topics include current programs, the physical condition of public housing and other HUD-assisted housing, the financial health of FHA's mortgage insurance funds, HUD's oversight of grantees to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse, federal progress on the affordable housing and homelessness crises, and HUD's capacity to carry out its mission. In practice, this makes yearly public accountability from HUD's top official a legal requirement rather than an ad hoc practice.
Affects: HUD, Congress, public housing residents, taxpayers
- HUD: HUD Secretary testifies before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees on department operations — annually
§ 702 FHA Reporting Requirements on Safety and Soundness
HUD must send Congress monthly reports on the capital ratio of the FHA's Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (the reserve fund that backs FHA-insured home loans) and must notify Congress as soon as practicable if the fund falls below its statutorily required capital ratio. This gives Congress an early-warning system on the financial health of the fund that stands behind FHA mortgages, which serve many first-time and lower-down-payment buyers.
Affects: FHA borrowers, lenders, Congress, taxpayers
- HUD: Report to Congress on the FHA insurance fund's capital ratio — monthly
- HUD: Notify Congress if the FHA fund falls below its required capital ratio — as soon as practicable after it occurs
§ 703 United States Interagency Council on Homelessness Oversight
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which coordinates the federal response to homelessness, gets updated accountability duties. Instead of simply updating its national plan to end homelessness each year, it must now submit an annual report to the President and Congress on how much of the plan has been completed and explaining any changes made to the plan and why. The Council must also testify before Congress annually if asked. The section also updates statutory cross-references and renumbers several paragraphs.
Affects: people experiencing homelessness, homeless service providers, Congress, federal agencies
- U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness: Report to the President and Congress on the status of the federal plan to end homelessness and any modifications — annually
- U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness: Testify before Congress if requested — annually
§ 704 Appraisal Modernization Act Notable
This section makes two changes about home appraisals. First, USDA, VA, FHA, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency must each require lenders on federally backed mortgages to have a formal process for a homeowner or buyer to request a 'reconsideration of value' or a second appraisal on their primary home, giving consumers a defined way to challenge an appraisal they believe is wrong. Second, within 240 days of enactment, the Government Accountability Office must publicly report to Congress on whether it is feasible to create a searchable, downloadable public database of appraisal data held by FHFA (for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), HUD/FHA, USDA, and VA, examining costs, privacy risks, who should run it, and whether to include legacy data back to January 1, 2017. The stated purpose of such a database would be to help determine whether lenders, appraisers, and automated valuation models are serving the whole housing market fairly. Once the report is done, the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees must each hold a hearing on its findings.
Affects: homebuyers, homeowners, appraisers, lenders, veterans, rural borrowers, researchers
- GAO: GAO submits a public report to Congress on the feasibility of a public appraisal database — 240 days after enactment (≈ March 8, 2027)
- Congress: Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees each hold a hearing on the GAO report's findings — upon completion of the GAO report
- USDA, VA, FHA, and FHFA: Implement and maintain requirements that lenders have a consumer reconsideration-of-value process for federally backed mortgages — no explicit deadline stated
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