On October 24, the House approved, by voice vote, a bill (S. 1452) that includes a number of housing and banking measures that were negotiated by House and Senate counterparts. Among the bills included is H.R. 1776, the American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act, which passed the House on April 6 (see The Source, 4/7/00, p. 4). House approval of S. 1452 sends the measure back to the Senate for final approval.
H.R. 1776 is designed to increase low- and middle-income homeownership. As approved by the House, the measure would increase the authorization for the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) program from $260 million to $275 million.
The HOPWA program, which provides grants to states and metropolitan areas with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS to provide housing assistance to low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS, is currently funded at $232 million. The program will be level-funded in FY2001.
